Method and apparatus for network-based sales force management

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for network-based sales force automation are provided that meet objectives of increasing sales and marketing efficiency and efficiency of technical and customer support by providing multi-dimensional displays of transactional information to users. Transactional information of deals, contacts, accounts, and leads is provided over the Internet using a Web browser. The information of related transactions is electronically linked, and the transactional information is electronically searchable using custom profiles. The transactional information is accessed and shared among host organization members according to a hierarchy and predefined territories. A Radar Screen Opportunity Display (RSOD) may be selected on which deal objects are displayed that represent the stages in a sales pipeline of corresponding deals. New business information may be selected, wherein automatic notification is provided of new information and changed information relating to transactions, wherein the new business information comprises information on at least one monitored customer Web site. A communication capability is provided that comprises electronic mail, facsimile, telephones, and paging devices, wherein communication is automatically established using transactional information.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.09/797,053 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Network-Based Sales ForceManagement,” filed Feb. 27, 2001 now U.S. Pat. No. 7,379,064, and namingKeith Raffel, Robert M. Schulman, Dixie Baker, Robert E. Currie, andChristine Currie as inventors, which is a continuation application under35 U.S.C. §365(c) of PCT Application No. US99/19766 filed Aug. 27, 1999,which designated the United States and claims benefit of U.S.Provisional Patent Application No. 60/098,194 filed Aug. 27, 1998. Theabove-mentioned application are incorporated by reference herein, intheir entirety and for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the field of managing sales force information.In particular, the invention relates to a method of providingtransactional data over a network to sales force members.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In order to facilitate accurate decision making, it is desirable to beable to consider a maximum amount of available information informulating a decision. Maximizing the amount of available information,however, often increases the difficulty of the decision making process,thereby reducing the accuracy of the corresponding decision. This isbecause the amount of information to be presented, assimilated, andconsidered in the making of business decisions can be significant inlight of the current information age. Therefore, it is desirable tomaximize the information presented to a decision maker while presentingthe information in such a way as to be readily understood by thedecision maker.

One approach to presenting information is to present raw information orstatistics to a decision maker. This approach is generally not preferredbecause a large amount of time is expended by the decision maker inassimilating and understanding the information. Furthermore, thedecision maker may not have the training or experience to correctlyanalyze the information.

Another frequently used approach for presenting information is toorganize the material for presentation using graphs and charts compiledfrom the information. Many different forms of graphs and charts havetypically been used, depending on the type of information to bepresented. This approach can work well if the information is the typethat is easily organized in graph or chart form. Again, however,information presented in graphs and charts can be difficult for thedecision maker to assimilate, particularly when information relevant toone event must be compared with information relevant to other events.

Often, when there is a need to compare information from numerous eventsor transactions, there is a requirement to look at the historicalstatistics of the transactions. When the historical statistics of thetransaction are relevant, concurrent presentation of historical data ofthe same type and format as the current data is required. It becomesextremely difficult to display historical data concurrently with currentdata in the same format on the same display using traditional graphs andcharts. One reason for this difficulty is the limited space available ontypical charts and graphs. In considering the limited space, acharacteristic of the current transactional data must be deleted toallow room for each relevant historical characteristic that isdisplayed. This is especially true in the areas of businesstransactions, customer information support, and sales where there arelarge amounts of relevant data for each event, and historical event dataare critical to efficient decision making by sales and marketingpersonnel.

Therefore, it is desirable for everyone in an organization, from thesales and support personnel to the chief executive officer, to be ableto take a quick look at significant transaction data and make anefficient evaluation and determination as to the best potential businessprospects to pursue or the most serious support problems to fix.Consequently, it is desirable to have an information presentation schemeto increase the efficient presentation of information in the generalarea of customer information management systems and contact management.

Another problem faced by many organizations in the current informationage is that large amounts of information are frequently availableregarding business transactions. However, as the members of theorganization are mobile, particularly in a sales organization, itbecomes problematic to get such large amounts of information into thehands of the individuals that need to act on the information.Furthermore, it becomes difficult to provide for communication amongmembers of the organization, communication that improves theeffectiveness of the organization and the personnel. It is equally asdifficult to provide for communication among members of the organizationand clients of the organization, something upon which survival of theorganization may depend. Consequently, it is desirable to have aninformation provision scheme that is accessible by personnel from anumber of locations.

SUMMARY

A method and apparatus for network-based sales force automation areprovided herein. Transactional information of deals, contacts, accounts,and leads is provided over an Internet using a Web browser. Theinformation of related transactions is electronically linked, and thetransactional information is electronically searchable using customprofiles. The transactional information is accessed and shared amonghost organization members according to a hierarchy and predefinedterritories. The transactional information may be automatically importedfrom and exported to other applications comprising Web sites,spreadsheets, databases, and contact managers. A Radar Screen™Opportunity Display (RSOD) may be selected on which deal objects aredisplayed that represent the stages in a sales pipeline of correspondingdeals. The deals comprise sales deals, services to be performed, productdefects, and calls by representatives. New business information may beselected, wherein automatic notification is provided of new informationand changed information relating to transactions, wherein the newbusiness information comprises information on at least one monitoredcustomer Web site. Calendar and to-do information may be selected thatis automatically linked with corresponding transactional information. Acommunication capability is provided that comprises electronic mail,facsimile, telephones, and paging devices, wherein communication isautomatically established using transactional information. A record ofthe communication may be saved in a history file corresponding to thetransaction.

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will be apparent from the accompanying drawings and from thedetailed description and appended claims which follow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings, in which likereferences indicate similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a structure of the Customer Information Management System(CIMS) environment of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a computer system using an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 3 shows the client side, or user side, and server side componentsof the CIMS environment of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for managing transactional informationof an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is an Administrator screen of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is a New User form of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 shows the access rights to territories of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a Territory Administration screen of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 9 is a New Territories form of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 shows standard fields for Accounts of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 11 shows standard fields for Contacts of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 12 shows standard fields for Deals of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 13 shows a screen for customizing notifications about changes toAccounts, Contacts, and Deals of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 shows the Deal fields to use in triggering notifications of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 shows a screen for designating appointments and to-do items usedin triggering notifications in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 shows a main CIMS screen of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 17 shows the components of an Account List screen of an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 18 shows the components of a New Accounts screen of an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 19 shows the components of an Electronic Bulletin Board screen ofan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 20 shows the components of a New Message/New Reply screen of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 shows the components of a Search screen of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 22 shows the components of a Calendar screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 23 shows the components of a New Appointment screen of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 24 shows the components of the Contact List screen of an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 25 shows the components of a New Contact screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 26 shows the components of a Deal List screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 27 shows the components of a New Deal screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 28 shows the components of a new leads screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 29 shows the components of the RSOD screen of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 30 shows an embodiment of a Radar Screen™ Opportunity Display(RSOD) implemented by the present invention.

FIG. 31 shows a sample table of event characteristics upon which an RSODimplementation is based in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 32 shows example scale and note information that may accompany theRSOD of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 33 illustrates another embodiment of a RSOD implemented by thepresent invention.

FIG. 34 shows a sample table of event characteristics upon which an RSODimplementation is based in an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 35 shows a flow diagram for the operation of the CustomerInformation Management System (CIMS) in an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 36 shows a sample detail page for an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 37 shows a summary of the differences between the three recordretrievable methods of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 38 shows the components of a Find screen of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 39 shows the components of the Search screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 40 shows the components of a profile screen of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 41 shows the components of a To-Do List screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 42 shows the components of a New To-Do screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 43 shows the components of a New Information screen of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 44 shows the components of a New Information Web MonitoringPreferences screen of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 45 shows the components of a New Information/New Web Page ToMonitor screen of an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method and an apparatus for network-based sales force automation areprovided in a Customer Information Management System (CIMS). The CIMSmakes a sales force more effective by managing, reporting on, andanalyzing the flow of information throughout a host organization and theentire sales cycle. In the following description, for purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be evident,however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without these specific details. In other instances, well-knownstructures and devices are shown in block diagram form in order to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the present invention. While the CIMS isdesigned to support the basic information management needs of the hostorganization, the CIMS may be customized to meet the needs of specificorganizations.

The CIMS of one embodiment provides a broad range of informationmanagement and automation functions. The CIMS provides a completepicture of all deals and leads in a sales pipeline, wherein deals aretracked in any form necessary for an organization to move the salesprocess forward, from an overview to a complete deal history. The CIMSmanages account information. A quick profile of each account isprovided, including all related contacts and deals, as well as acomplete history of all activity associated with each account. The CIMSstores and tracks shared and private contacts. Contacts are easilylinked to accounts and deals, and a history of all activities associatedwith any account is provided. As the CIMS is accessed by a client usingthe World Wide Web (Web), communication with contacts may be made viaelectronic mail (e-mail) by clicking on the e-mail address of thecontact.

The CIMS provides a Radar Screen™ Opportunity Display (RSOD) that allowsfor visual tracking of the progress of deals through the sales pipeline.Reports provide a high-level summary and analysis of sales activities.The CIMS informs users when new information has been added to the CIMSenvironment and when existing information has changed or been updated.Furthermore, the CIMS monitors changes to Web pages that are designatedfor tracking. A communication function is provided that facilitates thesending of e-mail, facsimiles, quotes, and form letters to individualsand groups of contacts and leads. Moreover, the CIMS provides a calendarfunction for scheduling meetings and appointments, wherein scheduledactivities can be connected to related accounts, deals, and contacts.Action items, or to-do items, can be associated with related accounts,deals, and contacts, thereby facilitating the coordination ofdeliverables related to deals in the sales pipeline. In addition to theaforementioned functions, the CIMS provides an organization electronicbulletin board and newsgroup.

FIG. 1 is a structure of the Customer Information Management System(CIMS) environment 150 of an embodiment of the present invention. TheCIMS is hosted on a server 152 that comprises a World Wide Web server,or Web server, or HTTP server. The CIMS server 152 may comprise multiplecomponents, wherein the multiple components may be resident on differentservers, but the embodiment is not so limited. The CIMS server 152 iscoupled to a database 154. The server 152 controls, routes, and managessales force information or customer information in the hostorganization. The server 152 is coupled to numerous user workstations156 and 160 using an internet or intranet 158, but the embodiment is notso limited. The interactions with the CIMS 152, comprising those of endusers 156, or members of the sales force, and administrators 160, areprovided using a client Web browser. As such, only the Web browser and aTransmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)-basedconnection to the network hosting the CIMS are used to connect to theWeb server which connects to the CIMS server 152. This allows anyauthorized user to access the CIMS regardless of the location of theuser—in the office, at home, on the road—without the use of specialclient software. A standard conventional web browser allows anyauthorized user to access the CIMS. Consequently, communications amongCIMS users 156 and 160 are routed through the server 152, whichautomatically keeps track of which users get access to whichinformation.

FIG. 2 is a computer system 100 using an embodiment of the presentinvention. The computer system 100 may comprise the user workstations,the system administrator workstations, and the CIMS server, but theembodiment is not so limited. The computer system 100 comprises a bus101, or other communications hardware and software, for communicatinginformation, and a processor 109 coupled to the bus 101 for processinginformation. The processor 109 represents a central processing unit(CPU) having any type of architecture. The computer system 100 furthercomprises a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storage devicein main memory 104 coupled to the bus 101 for storing information andinstructions to be executed by the processor 109. The computer system100 further comprises a read only memory (ROM) 106, or other staticstorage device, coupled to the bus 101 for storing static informationand instructions for the processor 109.

A data storage device 107, such as a magnetic disk or optical disk and acorresponding disk drive, is coupled to the bus 101. The computer system100 may be coupled via the bus 101 to a display device 121 fordisplaying information to a user of the computer system 100. Displaydevice 121 can include a frame buffer, specialized graphics renderingdevices, a cathode ray tube (CRT), and a flat panel display, but theembodiment is not so limited. An alphanumeric input device 122,including alphanumeric and other keys, may be coupled to the bus 101 forcommunicating information and command selections to the processor 109.Another type of user input device is a cursor control 123 comprising amouse, a trackball, a pen, a touch screen, or cursor direction keys forcommunicating direction information and command selections to theprocessor 109, and for controlling cursor movement on the display device121.

In one embodiment, a hard copy device 124 is coupled to the bus 101 andis used for printing instructions, data, and other information on amedium such as paper, film, or similar types of media. Additionally, thecomputer system 100 can be coupled to a sound device for sound recordingand playback 125. The computer system 100 can function as a terminal ina computer network, wherein the computer system 100 is a computersubsystem of a computer network, but the embodiment is not so limited.The computer system 100 may further include a video digitizing device126. The video digitizing device 126 can be used to capture video imagesthat can be transmitted to other computer systems coupled to thecomputer network.

FIG. 3 shows the client side 156, or user side, and server side 152components of the CIMS environment of an embodiment of the presentinvention. The client side 156 components comprise a Web browser 310that accesses a Web page 312. The Web page 312 may comprise embeddedforms 314 and data, but the embodiment is not so limited. The clientside 156 components are coupled to the server side 152 components usingan internet or intranet 158, but the embodiment is not so limited. Theserver side 152 components comprise, but are not limited to, a Webserver 320 coupled to a CIMS server 324 through a data store 322. TheCIMS server 324 is coupled to a database 154. The Web server 320comprises a server-side script 330 that processes information and datafrom the Web browser 310. The server-side script 330 stores data in thedata store 322 for access by the CIMS server 324. The CIMS server 324 ofone embodiment comprises an import agent 340, an import template 342,and an import engine 344 that are used to periodically access data fromthe data store 322, but the embodiment is not so limited.

A method and apparatus for managing at least one transaction areprovided herein, wherein the method comprises providing sharedinformation regarding transactions. The transactions of one embodimentcomprise at least one deal, at least one contact, and at least oneaccount, but the embodiment is not so limited. The information regardingthe deals comprises summary deal information, detailed deal information,a complete history of events associated with the deals, and automaticaccess to a Web site of customers associated with the deals. Theinformation regarding the contacts comprises a history of activitiesassociated with the contacts, wherein communication with arepresentative of the contact is automatically established using theinformation regarding at least one contact. The information regardingthe accounts comprises summary account information, detailed accountinformation, a complete history of events associated with the accounts,and automatic access to a Web site of customers associated with theaccounts. Furthermore, the transaction may comprise at least one lead,wherein a lead is an emerging business opportunity.

The information of related transactions is electronically linked withinthe CIMS environment. The information regarding the transactions isprovided over a network comprising an Internet and an intranet, but theembodiment is not so limited. The transactional information is providedto a client using a Web browser and Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) anda protocol comprising Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol(TCP/IP), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and Simple Mail TransferProtocol (SMTP), but the embodiment is not so limited.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for managing transactional informationof an embodiment of the present invention. Operation begins at step 402,at which the CIMS environment is configured. Configuration of the CIMScomprises several steps. Users are registered to access the sharedinformation regarding at least one transaction using registrationinformation comprising at least one name, a title, at least oneelectronic mail address, and at least one telephone number. Furthermore,each user is assigned a log-in identification and a password. The CIMSconfiguration further comprises setting up at least one territorycomprising groups of related accounts, contacts, and deals. Theterritories may be organized according to geographical boundaries,account names, ranges of account names, account sizes, and industryfocus, but the embodiment is not so limited. The registered users areassigned to the territories. The assignment comprises assigning the useraccess to at least one territory as well as assigning one of a number oflevels of access rights to each user of each territory. As theinformation regarding the transaction is shared among sales forcemembers according to a hierarchy and predefined territories, in oneembodiment, a territory assignment and the title of the user determinesaccess to the transactional information of the territory, but theembodiment is not so limited.

Configuration of the CIMS environment further comprises inputtingtransactional information into the CIMS database. Furthermore, thetransactional information may be imported from at least one otherapplication comprising Web sites, spreadsheets, databases, and contactmanagers, but the embodiment is not so limited. The importing comprisesimporting transactional information interactively through an end-userimport system and importing the shared information as a batch operation.The source data comprising at least one field is simultaneously mappedand imported into at least one file, wherein the file comprisesinformation regarding the associated transaction. Moreover, the CIMS mayexport transactional information to other applications. The importingand exporting may be performed automatically on a periodic basis, butthe embodiment is not so limited.

Operation continues at step 404, at which a user may select a CIMSfunction. If no CIMS function is selected at step 404, operation ends.If a CIMS function is selected at step 404, operation continues at step406, at which a determination is made whether the RSOD is selected fordisplay. If the RSOD is selected for display, the CIMS provides the RSODdisplay to the requesting user, and operation continues at step 404. Inproviding the RSOD display to the user, at least one deal is determinedfor display. A deal object is generated to display each correspondingdeal. The RSOD displays the deal objects a determined distance from acentral point on a display. The determined distance of the deal objectsrepresents a related stage of a number of stages of the correspondingdeals, wherein the central point of the display represents a final stageof the deal. The deal may comprise a sales deal, a service to beperformed, a product defect, and a call by a representative, but theembodiment is not so limited.

If the RSOD is not selected for display, operation continues at step408, at which a determination is made whether new business informationis selected for display. If the new business information is selected fordisplay, the CIMS provides the new business information to therequesting user, and operation continues at step 404. The new businessinformation comprises new information and changed information on atleast one monitored Web site or network site. More specifically, the newbusiness information comprises an overview of changed informationregarding at least one lead and at least one transaction, newappointments and action items and corresponding electronic links, andinformation regarding at least one new lead and at least one newtransaction and corresponding electronic links. The monitored networksite comprises prespecified Web sites and Web pages associated with acorresponding transaction. In monitoring the Web sites, the World WideWeb is automatically polled to search for changes to prespecified Webpages, wherein the automatic polling is conducted once per day at aprespecified time, but the embodiment is not so limited.

If the new business information is not selected for display, operationcontinues at step 410, at which a determination is made whether accountinformation is selected for display. If the account information isselected for display, the CIMS provides the account information to therequesting user, and operation continues at step 404. If the accountinformation is not selected for display, operation continues at step412, at which a determination is made whether deal information isselected for display. If the deal information is selected for display,the CIMS provides the deal information to the requesting user, andoperation continues at step 404. If the deal information is not selectedfor display, operation continues at step 414, at which a determinationis made whether contact information is selected for display. If thecontact information is selected for display, the CIMS provides thecontact information to the requesting user, and operation continues atstep 404.

If the contact information is not selected for display, operationcontinues at step 416, at which a determination is made whether calendarinformation is selected for display. If the calendar information isselected for display, the CIMS provides the calendar information to therequesting user, and operation continues at step 404. The calendarinformation comprises meetings and appointments, and the calendarinformation is automatically linked with the corresponding transactions,but the embodiment is not so limited. If the calendar information is notselected for display, operation continues at step 418, at which adetermination is made whether to-do information is selected for display.If the to-do information is selected for display, the CIMS provides theto-do information to the requesting user, and operation continues atstep 404. The to-do information is automatically linked with thecorresponding transactions, but the embodiment is not so limited.

If the to-do information is not selected for display, operationcontinues at step 420, at which a determination is made whether reportinformation is selected for display. If the report information isselected for display, the CIMS provides the report information to therequesting user, and operation continues at step 404. The reportinformation of one embodiment comprises analytical reports andinformative reports about contacts, deals, accounts, and appointments,but the embodiment is not so limited. If the report information is notselected for display, operation continues at step 422, at which adetermination is made whether a bulletin board/newsgroup is selected fordisplay. If the bulletin board/newsgroup is selected for display, theCIMS provides the bulletin board/newsgroup to the requesting user, andoperation continues at step 404.

If the bulletin board/newsgroup is not selected for display, operationcontinues at step 424, at which a determination is made whether a CIMSsearch is selected. If the CIMS search capability is selected, the CIMSprovides the associated search display to the requesting user, andoperation continues at step 404. The CIMS of one embodiment providesthree search devices to be used in electronically searching and locatingrecords of contacts, deals, and accounts that match specified criteria,but the embodiment is not so limited. One search device uses profilescomprising predefined profiles and custom profiles.

If the CIMS search is not selected, operation continues at step 426, atwhich a determination is made whether a communication capability isselected. If the communication capability is selected, the CIMS providesthe communication display to the requesting user, and operationcontinues at step 404. The communication capabilities of one embodimentcomprise electronic mail, facsimile, telephones, and paging devices, butthe embodiment is not so limited. Communication is automaticallyestablished using the aforementioned devices along with informationregarding at least one transaction. A record of the communication may besaved in a history file corresponding to the transaction. If thecommunication capability is not selected, operation continues at step404, at which a user may select a CIMS function.

The CIMS is configured and tailored for use in a host organization by asystem administrator. As such, the system administrator may customizethe CIMS environment to meet the particular needs of the hostorganization. Specifically, the system administrator defines CIMSdatabase fields and attributes to match the structure of the usingorganization by incorporating all of the data needed by the sales force.Furthermore, the system administrator may change the display order ofdata in each field, and may customize the names and numbers of dealstages including adding, deleting, and modifying deal stages tocorrespond to the way the sales force manages the sales pipeline.Moreover, the system administrator registers CIMS users, createsterritories, and assigns user access rights to the territories. Thesystem administrator may generate shared profiles to combine or viewinformation. Additionally, the system administrator may configure importtemplates to manually or automatically move data from external sources,such as a lead form on the Web site of the host organization, into theCIMS. The system administrator may customize the way users are informedabout changes and new information via the New Information screen. Thesystem administrator may administer and maintain the CIMS environmentfrom anywhere the system administrator has access to a networkconnection, but the embodiment is not so limited.

FIG. 5 is an Administrator screen 500 of an embodiment of the presentinvention. The Administrator screen 500 comprises a workspace 502, anicon bar 504, a title bar 506, system controls 508, a status bar 510,and an About Box 512, but the embodiment is not so limited. The titlebar 506 appears at the top of the workspace 502 of one embodiment, andit contains a title indicating the name of the selected administratormodule. Furthermore, the title bar 506 contains context-sensitivebuttons 514 that apply to functions of the currently selected module.The workspace 502 is the central display of the screen 500, wherein thecontents presented within the workspace 502 depend upon the currentlyaccessed administrator module. In one embodiment, there are sevenadministrator modules comprising New Information Customization, UserAdministration, Territory Administration, License Administration,Account Administration, Contact Administration, and Deal Administration,but the embodiment is not so limited. Depending upon the operation thatis being performed, a list view may be presented of all of the items orentities in a particular module, such as a list of all users or allterritories, or a form view may be presented that shows detailedattributes of a specific item. The icon bar 504 at the left side of thescreen 500 of one embodiment allows the administrator to select anadministrator module, but the embodiment is not so limited. The modulesare selected by clicking the corresponding icon.

A group of system controls 508 are displayed along with theAdministrator screens 500 of one embodiment. The system controls 508comprise a Help control 516, a Preference control 518, and a Logoutcontrol 520, but the embodiment is not so limited. Clicking the Helpcontrol 516 results in the presentation of context-sensitive help forthe currently accessed module. Clicking the Preference control 518provides a Preference Screen which allows the administrator to customizethe CIMS. Clicking the Logout control 520 allows the administrator toterminate the CIMS session. Furthermore, the CIMS session may beterminated by exiting the Web browser or typing in a different UniformResource Locator (URL) in the address bar of the Web browser.

The status bar 510 in the lower left of the screen of one embodimentprovides status information and helpful tips on the CIMS. The text inthe status bar 510 changes as the cursor is moved over controls orhyperlinks. Clicking the About Box 512 of one embodiment provides theadministrator on-line access to information about technical support,copyrights, CIMS license agreements, and technology partners, but theembodiment is not so limited.

In order for users to access the CIMS system, they must be registeredwith the CIMS server, have the hardware and software needed to accessthe CIMS server using a Web browser, and have an assigned CIMS log-onidentification and password. The CIMS system administrator isresponsible for providing each authorized user with the aforementionedCIMS access items.

The system administrator uses a New User form to register authorizedusers with the CIMS server. FIG. 6 is a New User form 600 of anembodiment of the present invention. The New User form 600 containsinformation about each authorized user comprising a first 602, middle604, and last name 606 of the user, a user position title 608, anelectronic mail address 610, a telephone number 612, a log-onidentification 614, and a password 616. Furthermore, the New User formcomprises the territories 618 to which a particular user is assigned anda level 620 of information access that the user has for each territory.

The territorial configuration of the CIMS system provides a way tocreate groups of related accounts, contacts, and deals and to designategroups of users who have a responsibility to manage and track businesstaking place within each territory. In one embodiment, systemadministrators have the ability to establish and maintain territorydefinitions and to determine access rights of users to the territories,but the embodiment is not so limited. Territories are important in thatthey limit access to potentially sensitive deal information. By settingup territories so that they reflect the way an organization doesbusiness and by assigning appropriate staff members to each territory,only those users who are authorized to do so will be able to view orchange confidential information relating to a territory. Furthermore,territories can be used to aggregate accounts and deals for reporting,filtering, and notification. For example, users may create profiles thatshow accounts, contacts, or deals in specific territories. Moreover, asystem administrator may configure the CIMS to notify users every timethere is new or changed information for accounts or deals that arelocated only in their territories. This enables the member of aparticular sales team to focus on the information that is most criticalto them.

Assigning users to territories in the CIMS system effects the access todeals and the notification of a user. Regarding deal access, only userswho are assigned to a territory may create, view, change, report on, anddelete deals associated with that territory, but the embodiment is notso limited. All users can view all accounts and contacts no matter whichterritories they are assigned to, however, they cannot follow hyperlinksfrom an account or contact to a deal associated with a territory towhich they do not have access. On CIMS system screens containingterritory pull down menus, the list seen by each user will show only thenames of territories with which that user is associated. Regardingnotification information, only users who are affiliated with a territorycan be notified via the New Information screens about new accounts,contacts, and deals in that territory.

FIG. 7 shows the access rights to territories of an embodiment of thepresent invention. In one embodiment, the four levels of user accessrights to territories comprise Territory Owner 702, Full Access 704,View Access 706, and No Access 708, but the embodiment is not solimited. In one embodiment each territory must be assigned an owner, andonly one owner is allowed per territory. The Territory Owner hasoperational responsibility for deals and accounts assigned to theirterritory. Furthermore, the Territory Owner may create, view, modify,report on, and delete deals associated with their territory. Moreover,the Territory Owner may create appointments and to-dos associated withdeals in their territory.

A user having the Full Access level of rights may create, view, modify,report on, and delete deals associated with their territory.Furthermore, Full Access allows a user to create appointments and to-dosassociated with the deals in their territory. A user having the ViewAccess level of rights may view and report on deals associated withtheir territory. Furthermore, the View Access allows for the creation ofappointments and to-dos associated with deals in their territory. The NoAccess level of rights prevents a user from viewing or reporting dealsassociated with the territory. Furthermore, a user assigned a No Accesslevel of rights may not create appointments or to-dos associated withdeals in the territory.

The system administrator is provided with many different ways to set upterritories within the CIMS system. While the territories may beorganized around traditional geographical boundaries such as North,South, East, and West, a system administrator may use territories tocreate many other types of account organizations. In many cases, anon-geographical arrangement may be most appropriate to suit the needsof the CIMS host organization. Territories may be based on account name.This could be useful if the using organization is concentrating onseveral large customers, each of which has many different divisions thata sales team calls on simultaneously. Territories may be based on rangesof account names; for example one territory comprises account namesbeginning with the letters A-G, another territory comprises accountnames beginning with the letters H-P, and another territory comprisesaccount names beginning with the letters O-Z. Furthermore, territoriesmay be based on industry focus, such as banking and financial,entertainment, manufacturing, and travel, but the embodiment is not solimited. Moreover, territories may be based on account size.

FIG. 8 is a Territory Administration screen 800 of an embodiment of thepresent invention. This screen 800 is displayed by clicking on theTerritory icon 802 in the icon bar 504. The Territory Administrationscreen 800 lists all existing territories and their members arrangedaccording to access rights. In one embodiment, new territories may becreated by clicking on the New Territories button 804 in the upper leftof the screen, but the embodiment is not so limited. Clicking on the NewTerritories button 804 causes a New Territories form to be displayed.

FIG. 9 is a New Territories form 900 of an embodiment of the presentinvention. Upon display, entries may be made into the New Territoriesform 900 by the system administrator, thereby defining a territory andthe associated individual access authorized to the territory.Furthermore, the CIMS system allows information regarding existingterritories to be edited by the system administrator.

A system administrator may tailor the way the CIMS stores and presentsaccount, contact, and deal information to precisely support the way thehosting company does business. FIG. 10 shows standard fields 1000 forAccounts of one embodiment of the present invention. In one embodiment,the Account Name field is required, but the embodiment is not solimited. The Territory field contains a list of values that the CIMSautomatically constructs based on the territories currently defined bythe system administrator, but the embodiment is not so limited. TheIndustry field is a list that is precalculated with a list ofapproximately 65 major industry types; the system administrator shouldreview this list and modify the list as necessary to ensure that itincludes industry categories suitable for the CIMS host organization.

FIG. 11 shows standard fields 1100 for Contacts of one embodiment of thepresent invention. Contact name is the only required field, but theembodiment is not so limited. The Account and Territory fields containlists of values that are automatically constructed by the CIMS based onthe accounts and territories currently stored in the database, but theembodiment is not so limited.

FIG. 12 shows standard fields 1200 for Deals of an embodiment of thepresent invention. In one embodiment, all of these fields are requiredexcept the Qualifications field, which may be used to storemiscellaneous information about a deal, such as budgets, and expressionsof product interest, but the embodiment is not so limited. The Accountand Territory fields contain lists of values that are automaticallyconstructed by the CIMS based on the current active accounts andterritories stored in the database, but the embodiment is not solimited. The Source and Rating fields are prepopulated with values thatare appropriate across a wide range of businesses, but the embodiment isnot so limited, and the system administrator should review these andmodify them as necessary to make sure they are appropriate for the CIMShost organization.

Administrator Accounts, Contacts, and Deals screens may be used to makemultiple types of changes to the corresponding CIMS tables, but theembodiment is not so limited. These changes comprise the following, butare not so limited: adding new fields and determining the data type ofthe added fields; renaming and changing other attributes of existingfields; inactivating existing fields other than system required fields;making existing fields or added fields into required fields; modifyingbuilt-in lists of values provided with certain fields of the standardtables, and specifying lists of values for defined fields; and, changingthe order in which fields in Accounts, Contacts, and Deals are displayedin both list view and form view.

Account, contact, and deal information and data may be imported into theCIMS of one embodiment of the present invention. Using the CIMS importcapabilities, information and data may be imported that is alreadymaintained in a corporate directory, address book, or contact managerinto the CIMS. Importing provides an easy way to initialize the CIMSdatabase with data that have already been collected. Data may beimported into the CIMS in two ways, interactively through the CIMS enduser import system, or automatically as a batch operation that is set upby the system administrator.

Interactive imports provide a simple way to move data from an externalsource into the CIMS database and may be initiated at any time by asystem administrator or a user. Automated import operations involveadditional steps that require coordination with outside processes andresources, but the embodiment is not so limited. Both types of importoperations involve the same basic sequence of setting up an importtemplate and then applying the template parameters to the import datarecords. The import template is set up within the CIMS to allow the CIMSto map the data contained in the source file into the CIMS database. TheCIMS then applies the template parameters to each record in the sourcefile, wherein all source records that can be successfully translatedinto CIMS records are written to the CIMS database as specified by theassociated template.

Several steps are followed in interactively importing data into theCIMS. An existing template is selected for use or modified, or a newtemplate is created. The name of the source file is then specified thatcontains the data to be imported into the CIMS. The fields read from thespecified source file are then mapped to the corresponding fields in theCIMS database. It should be noted that the data from a single sourcefile may be simultaneously imported to one, two, or all three CIMStables, wherein the CIMS tables comprise Accounts, Contacts, and Deals.The user then fine tunes the way that the source data is imported intothe CIMS database. The fine tuning comprises, but is not limited to, thefollowing actions: specifying whether or not duplicate records containedin the source file will be posted to the CIMS database tables;specifying whether imported records should trigger new informationnotifications; allowing the user to capture all of the data contained inthe source file when there is not an appropriate target field in theCIMS in which to store the data; assigning imported accounts, contacts,or deals to a selected territory when a source field has not explicitlymapped to a territory field; and, selecting a deal source when importinginformation into the CIMS deal table and not explicitly mapping a sourcefield to the deal source field.

In addition to the CIMS interactive import capability, the CIMS may beconfigured to import data from an external source automatically on aperiodic basis. This feature may be used, for example, to automaticallyimport data gathered via a Web page into the CIMS environment.Furthermore, it could be used to automate the import of data purchasedfrom third party sources, such as market research vendors or creditbureaus. With reference to FIG. 3, a discussion of an automated importprocess follows.

The process for an automated import operation comprises designating adata source into which raw data can be input. A script 330 or otherprocess is constructed to format and process the raw data in preparationfor importing into the CIMS server 324. The raw data is written to oneor more files and copied to a predetermined location on the CIMS server324. An agent polls the CIMS server 324 at a regular interval and passesthe data to the CIMS import engine 340. The import engine 340 processesthe source file and writes out data to the CIMS database 154 accordingto the mapping and other specifications encoded in the designatedautomatic import template 342. The source file is copied to an archivedirectory and a log file is written that contains a detailed record ofthe results of the import operation. While this process for an automatedimport operation has been described with reference to specific steps,the embodiment is not so limited.

The data source that is used to feed the automated import operation istypically a form 314 embedded on a Web page 312, however, it could be adata feed purchased from a third party source, or a set of filesperiodically generated by a data warehouse, but the embodiment is not solimited. In order to create an automated data gathering environment, theraw data gathered must be validated, filtered, and possibly transformedor restructured before it is provided to the CIMS environment forprocessing. The basic operations that should be performed before takingthe data to be imported comprise data type checking, validity checking,and checking to make sure that values are entered for all requiredfields, but the embodiment is not so limited.

The processing script 330 may perform several functions, but theembodiment is not so limited. The processing script 330 may writeindividual records gathered from the data source into a file formattedto be imported into the CIMS environment. Furthermore, the processingscript 330 may add default values for required fields that are needed togenerate CIMS records but that may be missing from the source data.Moreover, the processing script 330 may move the source file into theimport data store 322. The functions performed by the processing script330 may be handled in a variety of ways, but the embodiment is not solimited. All processing script functions may be performed on the clientside 156 by a script attached to the Web page 312 containing the dataentry form, or the functions may be performed by the form itself.Furthermore, the processing script functions may be performed by aserver-side 152 script or other process. Moreover, the processing scriptfunctions may be distributed among several processes that reside both onthe client side 156 and on the server side 152.

The processing script 330 periodically writes source data to the importdata store 322, which is a predetermined location to store filescontaining data related to automatic import operations. In oneembodiment, each location designated to store import source files is animport folder that is hardwired to be in the same location as the CIMSfiles on the server 324, but the embodiment is not so limited. The datastore 322 comprises two sub-folders created under the import folder thatare used to store data created during automatic import operations. Afirst sub-folder comprises an archive that contains copies of sourcefiles that have been processed by the CIMS import engine 344. These aremaintained so that the results of each import can be audited against theoriginal sources. A second sub-folder contains a log file for eachsource file that has been processed. Using the copies of the sourcefiles and the log files contained in the two sub-folders, the importprocess may be audited to insure that the expected results are beingproduced.

The CIMS import agent 340 periodically polls the data store 322 andpresents any source files found at the time of polling to the importengine 344 for processing. The frequency with which the import agent 340polls the data store 322 may be set by the system administrator, but theembodiment is not so limited. Furthermore, the system administratorspecifies the import template 342 to be used by the import engine 344during automatic import processing, but the embodiment is not solimited.

Prior to deployment of the CIMS, the system administrator shouldinitialize and configure the CIMS environment to that of the hostorganization. While many functions of the CIMS may be customized, theNew Business notifications are of particular importance. The NewBusiness notifications are designed to help maximize the effectivenessof the host organization sales force by highlighting important changesand additions to the information stored in the CIMS. By monitoring thechanges posted in New Information, users can see at a glance any newappointments and meetings that they have been scheduled for and anyto-do items that have been assigned to them. Furthermore, the user maybe notified regarding changes or additions to Accounts, Contacts, andDeals in territories with which they are associated and about changes toWeb pages that the user has designated the CIMS to monitor. The CIMSallows the system administrator to customize the following, but theembodiment is not so limited: customize the way the CIMS notifies usersabout changes to Accounts, Contacts and Deals; customize the way theCIMS notifies users about new appointments, meetings, and to-do items;and, specify the time at which the CIMS will search the Web for changesto monitored Web pages.

FIG. 13 shows a screen 1300 for customizing notifications about changesto Accounts, Contacts, and Deals of an embodiment of the presentinvention. This screen 1300 allows the system administrator to specifyexactly which changes will trigger the CIMS to notify users regardingchanges to Accounts, Contacts, and Deals. In one embodiment,notifications about new or changed Accounts, Contacts, and Deals dataare only provided to users who have access to the territories which thenew or changed data effects, but the embodiment is not so limited. Usingthis screen the system administrator could, for example, notify bothTerritory Owners and members, or users who have either Full or Viewaccess to a territory, whenever a new account or deal is created, butonly notify owners when deals or accounts are changed.

The system administrator can further customize when notifications aboutchanges are generated by using a twist-down for Account 1302, Contact1304, and Deal 1306 fields. FIG. 14 shows the Deal fields 1402 to use intriggering notifications of one embodiment of the present invention.FIG. 14 shows the screen from FIG. 13 after the Deal fields have beentwisted-down. The settings 1404-1410 specify that territory owners willbe notified about changes to deals only when the Stage 1404, Status1406, Probability 1408, or Projected Closing Date 1410 of acorresponding deal are changed.

FIG. 15 shows a screen for designating appointments and to-do items usedin triggering notifications in an embodiment of the present invention.The system administrator specifies that both the creation andcancellation or modification of a calendar or to-do item should triggernotifications. Furthermore, the system administrator may cause the CIMSto notify the originator of an appointment or a to-do item that arecipient has declined to attend a meeting or that an assigned to-doitem has become overdue.

The CIMS server of one embodiment may be configured to automaticallypoll the Web to search for changes to Web pages that individual userswould like to monitor. If any Web pages have been designated formonitoring, the CIMS server will automatically poll those pages once perday, but the embodiment is not so limited. If any changes to the Webpages that a user is monitoring are detected, the user is notified viathe New Information screen. By default the CIMS server of one embodimentis set to conduct the polling at 12:00 A.M. However, the polling timemay be changed. In order to maximize server performance and throughput,and to minimize contention for server resources, it is preferable to setthe poll time to a period when the CIMS server activity should be at aminimum, but the embodiment is not so limited.

Upon completion of the registration of users and customization of theCIMS environment, members of the host organization may begin using theCIMS. In one embodiment, there are several client requirementscomprising minimum hardware, software, and network requirements that theuser may meet in order to access the CIMS, but the embodiment is not solimited. A Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)connection to the host organization CIMS environment is used in oneembodiment, but the embodiment is not so limited. The TCP/IP connectionmay either be a direct connection via a Local Area Network (LAN) or adial-up connection that will enable a user workstation to receive Webpages from the Web server installed on the CIMS server, but theembodiment is not so limited. The user may have a personal computercapable of running the Web browser, but the embodiment is not solimited. For example, Netscape Navigator or Communicator version 4.03may be used as well as Microsoft Internet Explorer version 4.0 or higherversions, but the embodiment is not so limited. The CIMS of oneembodiment is certified to run and use Web browsers in either aMicrosoft Windows environment or a Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 workstationor server environment, but the embodiment is not so limited. The usershould also have a URL to access the CIMS. Furthermore, the user shouldhave an assigned log-on identification and a password.

An authorized user accesses the CIMS using a Web browser running ontheir client computer. The client computer comprises a personalcomputer, but the embodiment is not so limited. Upon authorized accessto the Web server of the host organization, a main CIMS screen will bepresented to the user. FIG. 16 shows a main CIMS screen 1600 of anembodiment of the present invention. The main screen 1600 of oneembodiment comprises a header 1602, a title bar 1604, a workspace 1606,and an icon bar 1608, but the embodiment is not so limited. The header1602 displays the name of the host organization, but the embodiment isnot so limited. In one embodiment, the header 1602 comprises systemcontrols comprising Help 1610, Import 1612, Find 1614, and Logout 1616that are available on every screen, but the embodiment is not solimited. The title bar 1604 comprises the name of the current CIMSscreen 1600. Furthermore, the title bar 1604 comprises buttons 1618 orfunction icons that change depending upon the function of the currentscreen, but the embodiment is not so limited. The icon bar 1608 of oneembodiment allows a user to select a particular CIMS module for use. TheCIMS of one embodiment comprises nine modules, each of which isrepresented by a module icon 1620 in the icon bar 1608, but theembodiment is not so limited. Clicking on a module icon 1620 results inselection of the corresponding CIMS module. The workspace 1606 comprisesthe presentation of CIMS information from a selected module in bothlists and forms, but the embodiment is not so limited.

Navigating around the CIMS user environment of one embodiment is verymuch like navigating around a Web site, but the embodiment is not solimited. To select or move to a particular CIMS module from the mainCIMS screen, click the corresponding icon in the icon bar. Hyperlinksare used to instantly access information related to a particular itemthat the user is viewing, but the embodiment is not so limited. Thehyperlinks of one embodiment are indicated by underlines, but theembodiment is not so limited. The main CIMS List screen contains summaryinformation about Accounts, Contacts, and Deals, but the embodiment isnot so limited. Complete details are available for any item by clickingon the associated hyperlink in the list. For many detail screens,clicking on a Close button allows a user to return to the list. Asummary of details is available for any item by clicking a twist-downbutton located next to or associated with the corresponding item. Mostitems in the CIMS system may be edited or deleted by clicking on an Editicon that appears along with or associated with individual entries, butthe embodiment is not so limited. Clicking on the Logout button allows auser to exit the CIMS environment.

The CIMS system provides a user with the ability to enter and look attheir own information, information for Accounts, Contacts, and Dealswith which they are associated, as well as information of other membersof the host organization. New information is entered into the CIMS byclicking on a New button on the right side of the title bar. Clicking onthe left half of the New button of one embodiment brings up a New Entryform for the screen that the user is currently viewing. For example, ifa user is viewing the Account list, clicking on the left side of the Newbutton will bring up a New Account form. Clicking on the right half ofthe New button brings up a menu that allows a user to select the type ofnew entry that the user wants to add from any screen. Many New buttonsare context sensitive. Clicking on, or selecting, this context-sensitiveNew button allows a user to enter a new item that is automaticallylinked to the item that the user is currently viewing. For example, if auser is viewing details about an Account, clicking the context-sensitiveNew button allows the user to create a new Deal record that is linked tothe account.

The CIMS system allows a user to sort list information by the values ina column by clicking on the column heading of the column of interest.For example, if a user wants to sort Accounts by industry, the user willclick on the Industry column heading. In one embodiment, there are threeways to quickly locate information in the CIMS environment. As a firstmethod, a user may click a Find button to quickly locate all records inContacts, Deals, or Accounts that contain a certain word or string ofcharacters. The Find function searches the account name field, contactfirst and last name fields, and deal description field. A user canselect a capability associated with the Find function to look in one ormore of the Accounts, Contacts, and Deals tables.

As a second method, a user may click a Search button to locate recordsor entries that match specific criteria as specified by the user. Unlikethe Find function, Search applies only to the type of information that auser is currently looking at, but the embodiment is not so limited. Forexample, if a user clicks Search from a Deal screen, the user will onlysearch through Deals. Furthermore, Search allows a user to be morespecific than Find in that a user can tell Search to look for valuesonly in the particular fields in which the user is interested. Theresult of a Search in Accounts, Contacts, or Deals is a subset of thetable that shows only the records that match the users searchspecification.

A third search method, Profiles, allows a user to be even more specificthan either Find or Search. For example, a user may create a profilethat shows all deals in the negotiation stage in the Western territory.Unlike Find and Search, Profiles can be saved and used repeatedly. Touse an existing profile, a user clicks on a pull-down menu in the titlebar. This menu displays a list of currently defined profiles availableto the user. Clicking the Profile button on the Accounts, Contacts, orDeals list screens allows for the creation of a new profile or theediting of an existing profile. Created profiles may either be privateto the creating user or shared with other CIMS users.

As previously discussed, the CIMS system of one embodiment uses ninemajor modules, but the embodiment is not so limited. The nine modules ofone embodiment comprise, but are not limited to, the following: a NewInformation module; a To-Do module; a Calendar module; an Accountmodule; a Contact module; a Deal module; a Radar Screen™ module; aReports module; and, a Bulletin Board/Newsgroup module. The NewInformation module provides an instant overview of everything new andchanged in the CIMS environment of which the user should be aware. Assuch, links to new appointments and to-do items that have been assignedto the user may be seen. Furthermore, links to new accounts, leads, anddeals in the territory to which the user is assigned may be seen. A usermay be alerted when there is new information on a Web site correspondingto an account to which the user is associated. The To-Do module allowsfor the entry and tracking of action items for a user and others in thehost organization. Moreover, the co-workers of a user may enter to-doitems for the user. To-do items may be associated with Accounts, Deals,and Contacts, thereby allowing a user to instantly see all open actionitems for each entry, but the embodiment is not so limited. The Calendarmodule allows for the scheduling of meetings and appointments. TheCalendar may be used to view the schedule of the user and the scheduleof co-workers. Calendar events may be connected with Accounts, Contacts,and Deals, thereby making it easy to get an overview of all scheduledactivity for each item.

The Accounts module allows for the management of account information. Auser can get summary account information or a detailed view.Furthermore, a user may see a complete history of all events associatedwith a particular customer. The Accounts module allows a user to see aWeb site associated with an account by clicking on the URL listed in theaccount entry.

The Contacts module allows for easy tracking and communication withimportant individuals. A user may enter private contacts information forexclusive viewing and use by the user. Furthermore a user may sharecontact information with others in the hosting organization. The CIMSsystem allows a contact to be automatically dialed by clicking on thelisted contact phone number.

The Deals module provides comprehensive information regarding all dealsin the sales pipeline. The Deals module provides information at manylevels of detail, from a quick overview to a complete history of everycontact, appointment, and event associated with the deal. Furthermore,Deals screens may be used to track leads that have been entered into theCIMS.

The Radar Screen module provides the user with a graphic overview ofactive deals and the location of the deals in the deal pipeline using aRadar Screen™ Opportunity Display (RSOD). The RSOD allows a user to seeat a glance, how deals are progressing through the sales cycle. TheReports module allows a user to analyze and summarize information storedin the CIMS. The Bulletin Board/Newsgroup module provides an electronicbulletin board for the posting of the latest news and developmentswithin the host organization. The Bulletin Board/Newsgroup module may beused to distribute company announcements, maintain company policies,distribute forms, as well as allowing for communication betweenindividuals of the host organization, but the embodiment is not solimited.

An account in the CIMS is an organization, such as a company ordepartment in a company, with which a user is doing or hopes to dobusiness. Depending on how the system administrator sets up the CIMS, auser may track various account information comprising address, number ofemployees, and annual revenue. Each account may have associatedcontacts, or individuals within the organization with whom a user isworking. Furthermore, an account has associated deals or businessopportunities. The deal is the primary organizing unit in the CIMS.Where accounts and contacts are used to track relatively staticinformation about an organization and its people, a deal tracks thedynamics of a business opportunity as it moves through the salesprocess. Moreover, an account may have associated to-do items,appointments, and history. An account may represent several things in aselling model of the host organization. Examples of some things anaccount might represent include, but are not limited to: a physicalsite; a buying organization; and, a corporate organization. Accounts aremanaged through the Account List, which enables a user to display a listof accounts, edit existing accounts, and add new accounts to the list.

FIG. 17 shows the components of an Account List screen of an embodimentof the present invention. The Account List screen components comprise,but are not limited to, the following: a New button; Show drop-downmenu; Records control; Search button; Communicate button; Profilebutton; Account List; Account List item twist-down; Account List sortarrows; and, an Edit icon. The New button is used to create a new lead,account, to-do item, contact, appointment, or deal, using the New Leadsscreen, New Accounts screen, New To-Do screen, New Contact screen, NewAppointment screen, or New Deals screen. Clicking on the “plus” signallows for the creation of a new account. Moving a cursor anywhere overthe button brings up a list of all record types that may be created,wherein the desired option may be selected by the user. The Show dropdown menu component allows the user to select a profile for use indetermining which accounts are displayed in the account list. A user mayselect active accounts, inactive accounts, all accounts, or any customdefined profile on the menu. A user may also create a new profile.

The Records control component allows a user to specify which accountsappear on the current page. This control appears only when there aremore records than can be displayed on a single page, but the embodimentis not so limited. The number of items displayed per page may be setwith the Preferences screen. For example, if the CIMS is set to displaytwenty items per page and a user has fifty records, the user may use therecords control to display records 1-20, 21-40, or 41-50. The Searchbutton component allows a user to search for accounts matching thecriteria which the user can specify on the search screen.

The Communicate button component allows a user to display acommunications screen and initiate and establish communications withcontacts associated with the selected accounts. The communicationscomprise mail, facsimile, electronic mail, quote, labels, and envelopes,but the embodiment is not so limited. A user may communicate with onecontact or many contacts at once. The Profile button component allows auser to display the Account Profile screen. The Account Profile screenmay be used to create, view, edit and delete profiles. As previouslydiscussed, profiles are used to filter records so that a user may seeonly the records in which the user is interested.

The Account List component allows a user to display accounts with whichthey are associated according to the selection in the Show drop-downmenu. A user may sort the Account List by clicking on a column headingand use the Account List sort arrows to determine the sort order.Clicking on an Account List item twist-down allows for the display ofdetailed information about the account. For even more detail, a user mayclick on the underlined account name in the Account List. It should benoted that if a list item contains an underlined e-mail address,telephone number, or Web page address, a user may click on thathyperlink to pop up an e-mail message screen to create and send amessage, dial the phone number with an auto dialer, or display the Webpage. The edit icon allows a user to edit or delete an account.

A New Accounts screen enables a user to create an account that will bedisplayed on the account list. The New Account screen is displayed byusing the New button. FIG. 18 shows the components of a New Accountsscreen of an embodiment of the present invention.

The CIMS electronic bulletin board and news group is a publiccommunications center that enables the discussion of topics or theexchange of messages among co-workers who use the CIMS. The electronicbulletin board may be used to post information about sales events orawards, request help on a project, read company policies, discuss salestechniques, or outline how to win against a competitor, but theembodiment is not so limited. Key words may be used to search forinformation on the electronic bulletin board. When a user enters theelectronic bulletin board, they are presented with a list of topicscurrently being discussed. Responses to each topic are linked togetherso that a user may read them sequentially and follow the flow ofconversation. A user wishing to add to the conversation may do so bystarting a new topic or replying to an existing topic on the electronicbulletin boards screen. Attachments may be added to electronic bulletinboard messages, but the embodiment is not so limited. It should be notedthat a user wanting to share information about a particular account,deal, or contact might do so by creating an event associated with thataccount, deal, or contact; in this way the information will reside withthe associated account.

The Electronic Bulletin Board screen of the CIMS enables a user to readand participate in discussions among users of the CIMS. FIG. 19 showsthe components of an Electronic Bulletin Board screen of an embodimentof the present invention. A user may choose to display messages from thepast week, the past month, the past three months, the past six months,the past nine months, or the past year, but the embodiment is not solimited. The Search button is used to find a certain topic heading orword within the body of a message.

A New Message/New Reply screen enables a user to create and reply totopics being discussed among users of the CIMS. FIG. 20 shows thecomponents of a New Message/New Reply screen of an embodiment of thepresent invention. A Search screen enables a user to search for topicsor messages that contain a certain word or part of a word. FIG. 21 showsthe components of a Search screen of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

The CIMS Calendar module provides for displays of lists of appointmentsand meetings that a user has called or in which a user has agreed toparticipate. The appointments may be viewed in day, week, or monthviews, but the embodiment is not so limited. An appointment is differentthan a to-do item which is managed through the to-do list, but theembodiment is not so limited. An appointment has a specific duration,such as 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.: for example, a meeting or conferencecall on Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. A to-do item has a due date and timeassociated with it, but is not otherwise dependent on specific events atspecific times; for example, a call, quote, e-mail, or other task thatmust be completed by a certain time, but can actually be worked on anytime prior to the due date and time.

The calendar may be used to view, edit, and add appointments andmeetings. A user may also view public information and add appointmentsto the calendars of co-workers. Only the creator of an appointment maychange (edit) or cancel (delete) the appointment, but the embodiment isnot so limited. Co-workers included in the meeting may choose to declineto be involved in the meeting, but the co-workers cannot edit or deletethe meeting. If a user schedules an appointment that conflicts with thecalendar of a co-worker, a notification appears at the top of theattendee's calendar view. A conflict hyperlink may be clicked on todisplay the conflict on a pop-up screen and edit the appointment asneeded. To see the notification in one embodiment, the calendar must bein either day or week view and be viewing the day that contains theconflict. Calendar appointment times are stored in the CIMS database inGreenwich Mean Time (GMT) and displayed in the appropriate time on thelocal computer, but the embodiment is not so limited. Thus, co-workersin Montreal, Cleveland, and Los Angeles would each see in their localtime an appointment scheduled by a co-worker in Dallas.

The CIMS calendar displays the scheduled appointments for a user andothers and enables a user to schedule appointments for themselves andothers. A user may include co-workers and contacts in theirappointments. The calendar displays the time of the appointment, apublic description of the appointment readable to anyone on the CIMS, aprivate note viewable only to the creator of the appointment, and theaccount associated with the appointment. FIG. 22 shows the components ofa Calendar screen of an embodiment of the present invention.

A New Appointment screen enables a user to create an appointment ormeeting that will be displayed on the calendar. Furthermore, a user maycreate appointments and meetings that will appear on the calendars oftheir co-workers who are on the CIMS. When an appointment is created,all attendees will be notified of the appointment on their newinformation screen. Attendees may then accept the appointment by doingnothing or decline by clicking a button. If an appointment is declined,the scheduling user will be notified on their New Information screen.When creating an appointment that is associated with an account, deal,and contact, a reference to the appointment will be saved in thecorresponding records. FIG. 23 shows the components of a New Appointmentscreen of an embodiment of the present invention. Creators of anappointment may edit the appointment, but the embodiment is not solimited.

The Communicate module of the CIMS enables a user to create a mail mergeletter, facsimile, quote, and e-mail addressed to contacts of the user,but the embodiment is not so limited. Furthermore, the Communicatemodule enables a user to create labels and envelopes to contacts of theuser. The communicate feature is available on any CIMS screen thatdisplays or has associated contact information, such as the ContactList/Detail screens and the Account List/Detail screens. Communicationsmay be with a single contact or many contacts at once. When transmissionof a communication is complete, a record of the communication may besaved in the history of the deal, contact, or account.

In one embodiment the Communicate module uses a mail merge feature toaccomplish these tasks, but the embodiment is not so limited.

A CIMS contact is an individual with whom a user communicates, either inrelation to a business opportunity or for personal reasons. Depending onthe configuration of the CIMS, a user may track various contactinformation comprising address, title, phone numbers, and e-mailaddresses. Regarding business contacts, one or more contacts may beassociated with an account and each contact may be associated with oneor more deals. The deal is the primary organizing unit in the CIMS.Where accounts and contacts are used to track relatively staticinformation about an organization and its people, a deal tracks thedynamics of a business opportunity. A contact may also have associatedto-do items, appointments and history. Furthermore a user may create apersonal contact, wherein a personal contact is not associated with anaccount. Personal contacts are displayed in a contact list of thecreating user, but not in any other contact list. A personal contactwill not be displayed as part of any account or deal informationelsewhere in the CIMS. Therefore, only the creator of a personal contactmay see the personal contact. Like a regular contact, a personal contactmay have associated to-do items, appointments, and history. Contacts aremanaged in the CIMS through the Contact List, which enables a user todisplay a list of contacts, edit existing contacts, and add new contactsto the list. Moreover, the Communicate button is available on theContact List screen, wherein the Communicate button enables the sendingof facsimiles, letters, and e-mail to contacts.

The Contacts List enables the user to display a list of their contacts,add new contacts to the list, and edit existing contacts. FIG. 24 showsthe components of the Contact List screen of an embodiment of thepresent invention. The New Contact screen enables the user to create acontact that will be displayed in the Contact List. The New Contactscreen is displayed by using the New button of the Contact List screen.FIG. 25 shows the components of a New Contact screen of an embodiment ofthe present invention. Contacts may be edited, but the embodiment is notso limited.

A CIMS deal is a potential revenue opportunity. A user may track variousdeal information, comprising stage, deal size, source, projected closedate, and close probability. A deal has an associated account and,optionally, one or more associated contacts, but the embodiment is notso limited. The deal is the primary organizing unit in the CIMS. Whereaccounts and contacts are used to track relatively static informationabout an organization and its people, a deal tracks the dynamics of abusiness opportunity. Furthermore a deal may have associated to-dos,appointments, and history. A CIMS lead is an emerging businessopportunity. A lead is the first stage of a deal, a potential deal thathas not been qualified. A deal is a potential revenue opportunity thathas been qualified and is in the sales pipeline. The CIMS enables a userto enter leads on a New Leads screen, as this is the way typicalorganizations prefer to organize their sales cycle. A user may alsoenter leads from the New Deal screen or after entering a contact on theNew Contacts screen.

After being entered, leads are managed from the Deal List screen, butthe embodiment is not so limited. Deals are managed through the DealList, which enables a user to display a list of deals, edit existingdeals, and add new deals to the list. History keeps track of all events,such as calls and meetings, related to the deal. Information added to orchanged in a deal is automatically recorded in the History. History isdisplayed on the detail screens of the deal itself and the account andcontacts associated with a deal. Deal history may be used to get a quickoverview of the activities related to a deal and to gain a more accuratepicture of where it is in the sales pipeline.

The Deal List enables the user to display a list of their deals, add newdeals to the list, and edit existing deals. FIG. 26 shows the componentsof a Deal List screen of an embodiment of the present invention. A NewDeal screen enables the user to create a deal that will be displayed inthe Deal List. The New Deal screen is displayed by using the New buttonof the Deal List screen. FIG. 27 shows the components of a New Dealscreen of an embodiment of the present invention. A deal may be editedor deleted, but the embodiment is not so limited.

The CIMS provides the capability to export data to other applications.The Contact List, Deal List, and Account List pages may have their dataexported as a text file with tab characters between the data fields, butthe embodiment is not so limited. Any application that can read such atab delimited file, which includes most spreadsheets, databases, andcontact managers, may use data exported from the CIMS, but theembodiment is not so limited. The export format of one embodimentautomatically converts the CIMS source file into the tab delimitedformat and downloads it to a hard disk for use with another application.The export function of one embodiment exports all fields in a table, notjust the ones shown on a list screen, but the embodiment is not solimited. However the records that are exported may be limited by usingthe Show drop down menu.

Furthermore the CIMS provides for the importing of account, contact, anddeal information from other sources. Any data source that can beexported as a tab, or delimited, file, which most spread sheets,databases, and contact managers can do, can be imported into the CIMS,but the embodiment is not so limited. The CIMS of one embodimentautomatically converts the source file and allows a user to specifywhere the data should go in the CIMS, but the embodiment is not solimited. A number of options may be selected when importing data intothe CIMS. There is an option to allow duplicate records to be generatedduring the import. Another option causes notifications of the importedrecords to be made on the new information pages of affected co-workers.A further option provides for the saving of unmapped fields of animported record to a specified field of a specified table if the sourcefile does not have a corresponding CIMS field. Moreover, an optionexists to assign imported records to a particular territory.Additionally, an option exists to assigned imported deal records to adeal source.

A CIMS lead is an emerging revenue opportunity. A lead is the firststage of a deal and typically is not fully qualified. A deal is apotential revenue opportunity that has been qualified. Typically, dealsare reflected in the sales pipeline. As many sales organizations centertheir selling process around leads and deals, the CIMS provides aconvenient shortcut to enter leads for either an existing account or anew account. To enter a lead for a new account, a user clicks on the Newbutton at the top of one of the following screens: Deal List/Detailscreen; Account List; Contact List; or, To-Do List. Upon clicking on theNew button a New Leads screen will be displayed. If a user creates a newlead in this manner the following will be created, but the embodiment isnot so limited: a new deal; a new account; and, optionally, a newcontact. A user manages the new lead through the Deal List. To enter alead for an existing account, a user clicks on the New Deal button onthe Account Detail screen or in the twisted down account detail on theAccount List. Once leads have been entered, they may be tracked andanalyzed using any of the tools available for deals, including reportsand the radar screen. A New Leads screen enables a user to create a leadthat will be displayed on the Deal List. Associated account and contactinformation for this lead will also be displayed on the account list andcontact list. FIG. 28 shows the components of a new leads screen of anembodiment of the present invention.

The CIMS meets the objectives of increasing sales and marketingefficiency by functioning to provide a multi-dimensional display ofevent information to a user. Consequently, the CIMS uses the RadarScreen™ Opportunity Display (RSOD), so named because the display is aradar metaphor. The CIMS uses the RSOD to provide a quick-look of thebest business prospects for pursuit by an individual or company. TheRSOD depicts business events and transactions in such a manner as toallow a quick and accurate evaluation by the user. Thus, in oneembodiment, this radar-like presentation of data allows the user to seea visual representation of the current state of one or more salestransactions.

The CIMS operates on data that is either received via user input or isreceived from a database containing information relevant to the eventsof a user company. With reference to FIG. 2, when a database is used thedatabase is hosted in a system memory 104 of the computer system. Asdata entered into the CIMS by a user is stored by the CIMS, all dataused by the CIMS will hereinafter be referred to as being resident inthe CIMS database. These events can include, but are not limited to,sales deals, purchases, customer service cases, services to beperformed, defect tracking, material issues, contact management, andcontract progress. The CIMS utilizes the event data to generatecorresponding event objects for display. The event data, or eventcharacteristics as they will be referred to herein, are displayed in agraphical manner on the RSOD in the form of the corresponding eventobjects. Each event object represents an event from the database. TheRSOD is capable of displaying multiple event objects at one timerepresenting multiple events from the database. The displaycharacteristics of each event object are determined by the eventcharacteristics of the corresponding event.

The location of an event object on the RSOD is indicative ofcharacteristics of corresponding events. The location is amulti-dimensional indicator in that it can be specified in terms of botha radial location from a specified point and in terms of sectors orcoordinates. First, regarding radial location, an event object isdisplayed on the RSOD a determined distance from a particular referencepoint on the display. This particular reference point may be chosen bythe user. Generally the particular reference point will be chosen to be,but is not limited to, the central point of the display. As businessdeals are typically referenced by stages in a pipeline or target dates,this reference point can represent, but is not limited to, someparticular target stage or target date of an event. Therefore, thedetermined distance of an event object from the chosen RSOD referencepoint represents a related stage or date of the corresponding event.Using a sales deal event as an example, and making the RSOD centralreference point representative of completion of the sales deal, thedistance the event object is displayed from the central point indicatesthe proximity to completion of the sales deal. This proximity can berepresented by a number of predefined stages away from completion of thedeal, or alternatively, an estimated time period away from completion ofthe deal.

Next, while radial location indicates a characteristic of an event, thesector or coordinate location of an event object may be indicative of adifferent characteristic of a corresponding event. The RSOD may bedivided into numerous sectors or, alternatively, grids defined by somecoordinate system. Thus, the location of an event object in a particularsector or grid can be representative of some characteristic of acorresponding event. For example, the sector or grid in which an eventobject is located may identify the geographical area in which acorresponding event is located, or it may identify the personnelinvolved in the event, or the probability of event completion, orproduct line, or type of company, or type of problem.

As the location of an event object on the RSOD can indicatetemporally-related event characteristics, then the corresponding eventobjects can be animated to show the progression and regression of thecorresponding events over time. The specified time period for animationcan be selected by the user or may be set by the CIMS. Event objectswill not obstruct other event objects.

An embodiment of the present invention uses the size, color, and shapeof event objects to be indicative of characteristics of correspondingevents. Generally, the size of an event object will be chosen to beindicative of a measure of importance of a corresponding event. Thismeasure of importance may be, but is not limited to, the amount of moneyinvolved in a corresponding event. For example, an event of interest maybe a sales deal where the measure of importance is the monetary value ofthe sales deal, so the size of the displayed event object would be indirect proportion to the monetary value of the sales deal. While thesize of event objects is a quantitative attribute for continuous values,the color and shape of event objects is suited for discrete values.

The size, color, and shape of event objects will each be indicative ofan individual characteristic of a corresponding event. Thesecharacteristics may include, but are not limited to, the personnelinvolved in an event, the level of priority of an event, the type ofevent, the geographical area in which an event is located, the strategicimportance of an event, a product line that is the subject of an event,event probability of completion, and an event with the highestprobability of completion. For events related to customer support ordefect tracking, these characteristics may also include the severity ofa problem, the number of interactions with a customer, the number ofinstances of a problem, the support representative or team assigned to aproblem, the type of problem, the type of customer, the product orproduct line, or the release version of a product.

In order to increase the number of event object variables so as toincrease the number of event characteristics which may be displayed, theevent objects may have variable fill patterns. For example, an eventobject may be displayed with a hollow center to represent a lost orfailed event.

In order to further increase the number of event object variables so asto increase the number of event characteristics which may be displayed,the event objects may have tails. As with event object location, theevent object tail is a multi-dimensional indicator of correspondingevent characteristics in that the tail has a variable length and avariable pointing direction. For example, the direction in which theobject tail points may indicate whether the event is progressing towardsor regressing away from a specified date or stage while the length ofthe object tail may represent a speed at which the corresponding eventis progressing or regressing relative to the specified date or stage.Additionally, the object tail may contain tail end symbols or differenttypes of tails which are indicative of a different characteristic of acorresponding event.

Preferably, the CIMS is configurable for individualized use so as toprovide information relevant to a specific user's position in thecompany. In this way, the CIMS can provide a visual representation ofdata presented for a specific person, team, or region, as well as forthe entire company. Thus, for example, a sales person may view hisindividual deals displayed on the screen, while the chief executiveofficer or vice president of sales might see all deals of the entirecompany displayed on the screen. In this way, the CIMS can function topresent event information so as to increase sales and marketingefficiency at all levels of a company. Also, a user can configure theCIMS to select event data based on any standard database queriesincluding, but not limited to, monetary value, product line, timeperiod, or other event characteristics. In addition, the event objectsdisplayed on the RSOD provide electronic links to detail pages whichcontain detailed information relative to corresponding events.

FIG. 29 shows the components of the RSOD screen of an embodiment of thepresent invention. The probability of closing of one embodiment is theestimated likelihood of a deal resulting in a sale, expressed as apercentage. The days until closing of one embodiment is the estimatednumber of days until a deal is expected to close; the closer the deal isto the center, the closer the projected closing date of the deal is tothe date specified in the From date field. The deal stages of oneembodiment are the names used by the hosting organization to describephases of their deal pipeline, such as lead, qualified, or closed.

FIG. 30 shows an embodiment of a Radar Screen™ Opportunity Display(RSOD) 3200 implemented by the present invention. The RSOD 3200 of thisembodiment is circular in shape. The RSOD 3200 displays event objects3221-3227 which correspond to events of the CIMS database or user input.FIG. 31 shows a sample table 3250 of event characteristics 3254-3262upon which the RSOD 3200 implementation of FIG. 30 is based in anembodiment of the present invention. The sample table 3250 containsevent characteristics 3254-3262 for seven events 3270-3282 illustratedby example on the RSOD 3200. The event characteristics 3254-3262 of thisembodiment include, in addition to an event name 3252, five categoriesof event characteristics 3254-3262 relating to each event.

The data selected for presentation in FIG. 31 is by way ofrepresentation, and the event name 3252 and event characteristics3254-3262 are not limited to the type or amount of data shown. The CIMSmay operate on any event characteristic that is selected for input intothe database. As such, a CIMS database may receive and store a largenumber of event characteristics. In contrast, the amount of datadisplayed on the RSOD is limited to the number of event object variablesaccommodated by the RSOD. Accordingly, an event object shown on an RSODdisplay will not generally be based on all information in the CIMSdatabase corresponding to a particular event. The reason is that theCIMS database will generally contain more event characteristicscorresponding to a particular event than the event object will havevariable parameters. Therefore, the CIMS must limit the characteristicevent data displayed corresponding to an event to the number of variableparameters of the corresponding event object.

The user of the CIMS has options as to the event data displayed by theRSOD in the form of the event objects. The user may choose to selectcharacteristic event data for all corresponding event object variables.If the user elects not to select characteristic data to represent allevent object variables, the CIMS will select the remainingcharacteristics using a default routine. If the user selects a number ofcharacteristics for display that is less than the number of event objectvariables, then the CIMS may be configured to either cause the RSOD todisplay the event objects based just on the characteristics chosen bythe user, or to cause the CIMS to select the remaining eventcharacteristics to be displayed using the default routine. The defaultroutine selection of characteristics could be based on a number offactors including, but not limited to, a prioritized list of defaultcharacteristics, or default characteristics most often selected by otherusers of the CIMS.

The event characteristics table 3250 of this embodiment presents eventcharacteristics 3254-3262, by company name 3252, in five categories.These five categories correspond to company size 3254, event territory3256, event completion date 3258, event stage as of the current date3260, and event stage as of one month ago 3262. These eventcharacteristics represent characteristics of the event or transactionwith the particular named company 3252. The size characteristic 3254presents the size of the event in dollar value. The territorycharacteristic 3256 presents the geographical location of the event. Thecompletion date characteristic 3258 represents the anticipated date ofcompletion of the event. The stage (Today) characteristic 3260represents the stage of the deal as of the current date. The stage (1month ago) characteristic 3262 represents the stage of the deal as ofone month prior to the current date.

FIG. 32 shows example scale and note information 3500 that may accompanythe RSOD 3200 of an embodiment of the present invention. This scale andnote information 3500 may be displayed along with the RSOD 3200, andprovides the information necessary to interpret the eventcharacteristics 3254-3262 from a graphical representation of the eventdata on the RSOD 3200. This scale and note information 3500 will be usedin the following description of the RSOD display 3200. As the eventcharacteristics table 3250 contains five event characteristics 3254-3262for representation on the RSOD 3200, five variables of the event objectswill be controlled by these characteristics 3254-3262. The event objectvariables controlled in this embodiment include event object size,distance of event object from center of RSOD, event object tail length,direction that event object tail points, and quadrant location of eventobject. Each of these five event characteristics 3254-3262 is discussedbelow with regard to the example RSOD 3200 display.

The scale information 3510 of FIG. 32 indicates that the event size data3254 is related to the size of the event object 3221-3227 displayed onthe RSOD 3200 by the relationship that 0.25 inches of event objectdiameter equals $50,000 in deal size. Using this example, the ABCCorporation event 3270 is represented by a 0.25 inch diameter eventobject 3221, the ACME event 3272 is represented by a 0.75 inch diameterevent object 3222, the Widgets Inc. event 3274 is represented by a 1.25inch diameter event object 3223, the XYZ Corporation event 3276 isrepresented by a 0.50 inch diameter event object 3224, the Tech Ltd.event 3278 is represented by a 1.0 inch diameter event object 3225, theZippy Co. event 3280 is represented by a 0.25 inch diameter event object3226, and the Super Stuff event 3282 is represented by a 0.75 inchdiameter event object 3227. The CIMS actually scales to pixels so thatthe resulting size of the event objects will vary by display device.

The scale information 3510 of FIG. 32 indicates that 0.5 inches ofdistance from the RSOD center 3202 represents an estimated one month oflead time, or one month from the current date to the date of closing.Using this example, the ABC Corporation event object 3221 is 0.25 inchesfrom the RSOD center 3202 representing one-half month until eventcompletion, the Acme event object 3222 is 0.5 inches from the RSODcenter 3202 representing one month until event completion, the WidgetsInc. event object 3223 is one inch from the RSOD center 3202representing two months until completion, the XYZ Corp. event object3224 is two inches from the RSOD center 3202 representing four monthsuntil completion, the Tech Ltd. event object 3225 is one and one-halfinches from the RSOD center 3202 representing three months untilcompletion, the Zippy Co. event object 3226 is two inches from the RSODcenter 3202 representing four months until completion, and the SuperStuff event object 3227 is one and one-half inches from the RSOD center3202 representing three months until completion.

Generally, the information displayed by an event object tail istwo-dimensional. In this example, the direction in which the tail ispointing indicates qualitatively the direction from which the event hasprogressed or regressed. Furthermore, the scale information 3510 of FIG.32 indicates quantitative information in that one inch of tailrepresents one stage moved in the past month. The note information 3520of FIG. 32 indicates that stage 1 is the beginning stage and stage 5 isthe target stage, such as getting a deal booked. Using this example, theABC Corporation event object 3221 two-inch tail 3241 indicates that theABC event 3270 progressed two stages in the past month, and tail 3241direction indicates that the ABC event 3270 progressed towards a targetstage. Regarding the Acme event 3272, the event object 3222 three-inchtail 3242 indicates that the Acme event 3272 progressed three stages inthe past month towards a target stage. Regarding the Widgets Inc. event3274, the absence of an event object 3223 tail indicates that theWidgets event 3274 did not progress or regress in the past month.Regarding the XYZ Corp. event 3276, the event object 3224 one inch tail3244 indicates that the XYZ event 3276 progressed one stage in the pastmonth towards a target stage. Regarding the Tech Ltd. event 3278, theevent object 3225 one inch tail 3245 indicates that the Tech event 3278regressed one stage in the past month away from a target stage.Regarding the Zippy Co. event 3280, the absence of an event object 3226tail indicates that the Zippy Co. event 3280 did not progress or regressin the past month. Regarding the Super Stuff event 3282, the eventobject 3227 two inch tail 3247 indicates that the Super Stuff event 3282progressed two stages in the past month towards a target stage.

The sector information 3530 of FIG. 32 indicates that the event objects3221-3227 are organized in a quadrant 3206-3212 of the RSOD 3200depending on the geographical location of the event. The quadrants areindicated by quadrant lines 3214. Accordingly, the Zippy Co. event 3280and the Widgets Inc. event 3274 are in the northeast territory becausethe Zippy Co. event object 3226 and the Widgets Inc. event object 3223are located in the top right quadrant 3206 of the RSOD 3200. The ABCCorp. event 3270 and the Super Stuff event 3282 are in the southeastterritory because the ABC Corp. event object 3221 and the Super Stuffevent object 3227 are located in the bottom right quadrant 3208 of theRSOD 3200. The Tech Ltd. event 3278 and the XYZ Corp. event 3276 are inthe southwest territory because the Tech Ltd. event object 3225 and theXYZ Corp. event object 3224 are located in the bottom left quadrant 3210of the RSOD 3200. Finally, the Acme event 3272 is in the northwestterritory because the Acme event object 3222 is located in the top leftquadrant 3212 of the RSOD 3200.

FIG. 33 shows another embodiment of a RSOD 3600 implemented by thepresent invention. FIG. 34 shows a sample table 3700 of eventcharacteristics upon which the RSOD 3600 implementation of FIG. 33 isbased. The RSOD 3600 of this embodiment displays event object 3602 as anevent object with a hollow center. The hollow center of event object3602 is indicative of a lost or failed event. The distance from thecenter of the RSOD to event object 3602 indicates how close the eventgot to completion before the loss or failure occurred.

FIG. 35 shows a flow diagram for the operation of the CustomerInformation Management System (CIMS) in an embodiment of the presentinvention. Operation begins at step 3304, at which a user enters theCIMS. The user selects an event from the CIMS database for display as aevent object on a RSOD, at step 3306. The CIMS contains a computerdatabase, or is electronically linked to a computer database. Thisdatabase contains a record of all company contacts and interactionsrelating to company events, deals, and transactions with client andcustomers. This flow diagram presumes that event characteristic datahave previously been entered into the CIMS database. The RSOD provides avisual representation of the events in a radar screen format.

In selecting an event from the CIMS for display on the RSOD, the usermay select specific events for display. For example, the user might wantto see displayed the events of Company A, Company B, Company F, CompanyR, Company Y, and Company Z. Alternatively, the user may specify eventsfor display on the basis of event characteristics. The eventcharacteristics on which display may be specified include anycharacteristics of an event that are resident in the database or whichare input by the user during a particular CIMS session. For example, asalesperson user might want to display pending sales deals of a certaintype based on the dollar value of the deals. Following selection ofevents for display by the user, operation continues at step 3310. If theuser does not select any events for display, operation continues at step3308.

If a user does not select any events from the CIMS database for display,operation continues at step 3308, at which a built-in algorithmdetermines the events for display on the RSOD. In the complete absenceof user input, the algorithm may select events for display based on, butnot limited to, predetermined event characteristics, eventcharacteristics most often requested in prior use by a particular useror group of users, or rate of change of event characteristic trend data.This algorithm may also be configured by the user or by a systemadministrator in order to display certain events. For example, the usermay specify a number or type of event to be displayed, adjust therelative weight of the event characteristics, or indicate which eventcharacteristics should be taken into account in formulating a display.

Following selection of the events for display from the CIMS database,operation continues at step 3310, at which the user selectsconfiguration options for RSOD event objects. The CIMS operates byformulating an event object for display based on corresponding eventcharacteristics resident in the CIMS database or input by a user. Thesize, shape, color, location, and object tail of each event object aredetermined by event characteristics of a corresponding event. As such,each of these event object attributes are indicative of the eventcharacteristics selected by the user to represent these attributes. Eachof these event object attributes will now be discussed.

The size of an event object on the RSOD generally represents, but is notlimited to, the relative importance of the corresponding event. As such,the size of the event object represents the size of the potential deal,in revenue or units, or the strategic importance of the deal. The sizeof the transaction object may also represent the qualitative value of aparticular event. In addition, size may represent the probability ofclosing a transaction, the expected value of a transaction, or thenumber of interactions with a customer. Event object size may also beused for tracking product defects, product types and releases, assignedrepresentatives, and types of calls. In tracking product defects, eventobject size can be indicative of the size of the problem and to thenumber of other defects related to the same problem or same product.

The shape of an event object may be indicative any one of a number ofqualitative characteristics of an event. The qualitative characteristicsthat may be represented by event object shape include, but are notlimited to, the category of an event, the assigned companyrepresentative, the probability of completing an event, the strategicimportance of an event, the product line being sold, the territory, thedefects of a product, the industry in which a company deals, and thetype of event (e.g., ongoing contract or a one-time sale). Thequantitative characteristics of an event that may be represented byevent object shape include, but are not limited to, the priority of anevent, the value of an event, the time to completion of an event, thesize of a company, the size of an event, and the stage of an event.Event object shape may also be used for tracking product defects,product types and releases, and types of calls. Thus, the shape of anevent object may be indicative of any characteristic of the transactionfound in the database.

The color of an event object may be indicative of any one of a number ofqualitative characteristics of an event. The qualitative characteristicsthat may be represented by event object color include, but are notlimited to, the category of an event, the assigned companyrepresentative, the probability of completing an event, the strategicimportance of an event, the product line being sold, the territory, theindustry in which a company deals, and the type of event (e.g., ongoingcontract or a one-time sale). The quantitative characteristics of anevent that may be represented by event object color include, but are notlimited to, the priority of an event, the value of an event, the time tocompletion of an event, the size of a company, the size of an event, andthe stage of an event. As an example, the color of an event object maybe red for an event having a highest level of severity with regards to aparticular characteristic, blue for an event having a medium level ofseverity with regards to the particular characteristic, and yellow foran event having a lowest level of severity with regards to theparticular characteristic. Thus, the color of an event object may beindicative of any characteristic of the transaction found in thedatabase.

The location of an event object on the RSOD is a multi-dimensionalattribute because it is indicative of multiple characteristics of thecorresponding event. As such, a radial location of an event object onthe RSOD may represent one characteristic of a corresponding event whilethe sector or grid location of the event object may represent anothercharacteristic of the transaction. For example, a radial location of anevent object on the RSOD may represent the stage of a correspondingevent, or the length of time a call has been open. Additionally, asector or grid location of the event object on the RSOD may representthe geographical location of the corresponding event.

Regarding the radial location of an event object, generally a particularpoint on the RSOD will be chosen to represent a specific stage or datein the lineage of an event. As such, the radial location of an eventrelative to this particular point may represent the stage of atransaction. For example, in one embodiment the center of the screen ischosen to represent the completion date of an event. The radial distancefrom the center of the RSOD is thus determined by the stage of the salespipeline in which an event is currently found relative to a final ortarget stage. Examples of these discrete stages include, but are notlimited to, raw lead, prospect, qualified prospect, field call required,decision pending, booked, shipped, accepted. Alternatively, the radialdistance from the center of the RSOD to an event object may bedetermined by the amount of time between the specified or target date ofevent completion and the current date. The radial location of an eventobject may also be determined by the probability of the transactionclosing. The CIMS will allow the user to enter pipeline stages or datesfor the relative comparison, to choose between choices of stages ordates, or to make no selection of stages or dates in which case the CIMShas default stages and dates.

Regarding the sector location of an event object, the RSOD can bedivided into sectors, and the sectors can be selected to represent anevent characteristic. For example, the sectors can indicate the salesrepresentative or team which is responsible for an event, the categoryof the company, the strategic importance of the company, the productline, the product defects, type of call, the size of the company, or thestage of an event in the sales pipeline. The sector representation,however, is not limited to the aforementioned event characteristics.

In addition to the aforementioned event object attributes, each eventobject may have an object tail. The event object tail is amulti-dimensional indicator of event characteristics. For example, theobject tail may represent an aspect of the past history of a particularevent. As the object tail has at least two variables, the direction inwhich the tail points and the tail length, the object tail may representat least two event characteristics or, alternatively, onetwo-dimensional event characteristic.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the object tail representsthe stage of a particular event relative to a specified stage byindicating the progression or regression of a corresponding eventrelative to the specified stage. The progression/regressioncharacteristic is a two-dimensional characteristic in that the event canbe progressing, or moving towards a specified stage, or the event can beregressing, or moving away from a specified stage. The direction inwhich the object tail points indicates whether the event is progressingor regressing. The second dimension indicated by the object tail is theassociated speed at which the event is progressing or regressing. Thelength of the object tail indicates the speed at which the event ismoving.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the object tailrepresents the progression or regression of a corresponding eventrelative to a specified date. In this embodiment, when the event isprogressing towards a specified date, the tail of the event objectpoints towards the particular point on the RSOD chosen to represent thespecified date of interest. When the event is regressing away from aspecified date, the tail of the event object points away from theparticular point on the RSOD chosen to represent the specified date ofinterest. When the event is neither progressing nor regressing, theremay be no tail displayed, or a particular type of tail might bedisplayed to indicate no change in the event. Eventprogression/regression can be measured by, but is not limited to,comparison to a relevant specified date, stage of event in a pipeline,or increase or decrease in the probability of event closing.

Additionally, the speed associated with the progression or regression ofthe event is represented by the length of the object tail. The speed canbe measured relative to, but is not limited to, a specific date, thespeed with which the event passes through a series of stages, by howquickly the probability of event closing fluctuates, or how the time ofevent closing is adjusted. In order to be representative of speed, thetail length must be normalized relative to a standard. As an example,the tail length can be selected to be normalized relative to all eventsdisplayed on the RSOD. Also, the tail length can be normalized relativeto some specified period of time (e.g., for the last month).Furthermore, the tail length can be normalized between some particulartype of deals of a specified number of deals, whether or not all ofthese deals are displayed on the RSOD. The normalization standard may beselected by the CIMS user or by a CIMS algorithm.

As the CIMS can display event objects in a way indicative of the pasthistory of a corresponding event, the CIMS may also animate the historyof an event. This animation is accomplished by replaying the movement onthe RSOD of the event object as reflected by changes in thecorresponding characters over a specified period of time. This replayallows the user to view a time history of the progression and regressionof an event for a period of interest.

An event object display on the RSOD includes an object label. This labelcan be input by the user, selected by the user from a list of optionssupplied by the CIMS, or generated by a default algorithm in the absenceof a user selection. The object label displays an attribute of theobject from the database. Either the event object label or the eventobject itself may serve as an electronic link to a detail pagecontaining detailed information about the particular event.

FIG. 36 shows a sample detail page 3400 for an embodiment of the presentinvention. A detail page for each event contains information relating tothe particular event. The detail page might include a record ofinteractions or contacts with the opportunity company. Furthermore, thedetail page may include a complete history of interactions with theopportunity company. Moreover, the detail page could be accessed via anaddress on the worldwide web, or simply a page that displays informationthat is known within the application about the event. The detail page3400 of FIG. 36 includes as an example of the type of information thatmight be contained in a detail page, but is not limited to, company name3402, company address 3404, company phone number 3406, industry in whichcompany participates 3408, number of employees 3410, revenue 3412,credit rating 3414, electronic (Internet) address 3416, territory 3418,deal size 3420, expected closing date 3422, and stage of the event as ofa certain date 3424.

Following user selection of configuration options for RSOD transactionobjects at step 3310, operation continues at step 3312, at which abuilt-in algorithm determines the event characteristics on which thedisplayed event object size, shape, color, location, and object tailwill depend. If the user does not select any characteristics at step3310 to control the display, the algorithm will select allcharacteristics. If the user selects some characteristics at step 3310,the algorithm will select the remaining characteristics. If the userselects all characteristics at step 3310 for control of the display, thealgorithm will not select any characteristics and operation willcontinue at step 3314. As previously discussed, this algorithm may alsobe configured by the user in order to display certain events. Forexample, the user may specify a number or type of event to be displayed,adjust the relative weight of the event characteristics to prioritizewhich event to display, or indicate which event characteristics shouldbe taken into account in formulating a display.

Following step 3312, operation continues at step 3314, at which the CIMSloads from a database all event characteristics required for generationof a RSOD of the corresponding events. As previously discussed, thecharacteristics may be selected by a user or selected by the CIMS. TheCIMS generates the event objects and displays the event objects on theRSOD corresponding to an event, at step 3316. The event objects aredisplayed according to the event characteristics selected to control thedisplay. At step 3318, at which a user views the event objects displayedby the CIMS on the RSOD. Upon viewing the event objects, operationcontinues at step 3320, at which the user may link from specific eventobjects to corresponding event detail pages. When the user no longerwishes to view a detail page, they may link back to the RSOD display.

Operation continues at step 3322, at which, upon viewing the eventobjects of the RSOD, the user may wish to reconfigure the RSOD todisplay different events, or the user may wish to reconfigure the RSODin order to change the event characteristics depicted by the eventobjects. In this case, operation continues by returning to step 3306whereby the user will have the configuration options as previouslydiscussed. If the user does not wish to reconfigure the RSOD afterviewing it, operation continues at step 3324, at which the user may linkto and from corresponding event detail pages so as to gather informationon corresponding events. Upon completion of an information gatheringsession using the RSOD, the user exits the CIMS, at step 3326.

As previously discussed, the CIMS of one embodiment uses three recordretrievable methods; Search, Find, and Profiles. FIG. 37 shows a summaryof the differences between the three record retrievable methods of anembodiment of the present invention.

The CIMS uses Find as a quick method of locating all records in CIMSthat contain a certain word or characters. Find searches the AccountName field, contacts first and last name fields, and field description.Find options comprise an exact match, starts with match, and containsmatch. The Find screen enables a search of the CIMS database for arecord that contains a specified character. FIG. 38 shows the componentsof a Find screen of an embodiment of the present invention.

The CIMS uses Search to locate records that match a certain set ofcriteria. For example, on the Deal List screen, a user can search forall deals of a certain size in a certain deal stage. The Search buttonappears on the Account list, Contact list, and Deal list. When a userselects the Search button a Search screen with the appropriate account,contact, or deal search fields displays. Although the Search screen hasdifferent fields for each type of search, all searches are performed inthe same way: define the values wanted for each field, determine thetype of match wanted; and, click a button to begin the search. Thesearch matches of one embodiment comprise exact match, starts withmatch, and partial match. Following execution of the search, the CIMSreturns to the list screen from which the search was started. The screenwill display the results of the search and the Show menu will be set tocurrent search results. FIG. 39 shows the components of the Searchscreen of an embodiment of the present invention.

The CIMS of one embodiment uses Profile to locate records that match acertain set of criteria. The CIMS is provided with a predefined set ofprofiles that may be used to located certain types of records. Forexample, on the Contact List screen a user may select the ActiveContacts profile to display their active contacts only, or the user mayselect the Personal Contacts profile to display their personal contacts.The user may return to viewing all contacts by using the All Contactsprofile. The CIMS provides for the definition of custom profiles. Forexample, a new profile can be defined that will locate all deals over$1,000,000 with a 30-60% chance of closing. The profile button appearson the Account List, Contact List, and Deal List. Upon selection of theProfile button, a list of custom profiles for the given record type isdisplayed. This list may be used to edit or delete profiles. A newprofile may be created by clicking the New Profile button. New profilesare created by naming the profile, entering a short description,selecting a profile access (private or shared), defining selectioncriteria, and saving the profile. Once created, a custom profile isdisplayed on the Show drop down menu on the List screen. FIG. 40 showsthe components of a profile screen of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

Finding information in the CIMS differs from searching in that Findingrelies on simple matching in key fields. The CIMS Search feature shouldbe used if a user wants to search on fields other than the key fieldsused by Find or if a user wants to search on multiple fields at onetime. Finding differs from Searching in that it can look up contacts,deals, and accounts at the same time. Searching works only on therecords managed from the List screen from which the search is accessed.For example, if a user starts Searching from the Deal List, the Searchwill only be performed on Deal records.

Profiles differ from Finding and Searching in that Profiles allow formore advanced selection criteria. For example, Profiles can do “greaterthan” or “less than” comparisons. Furthermore, Profiles may be rangecomparisons. The Search of one embodiment is limited to exact match,contains, and starts with. In contrast, Profiles may do thesecomparisons and others. Furthermore, Profiles differ from Searching inthat Profiles may be saved for future use.

The CIMS of one embodiment provides two types of reports, informationaland analytical, for tracking and analyzing deals, accounts, andcontacts, but the embodiment is not so limited. Informational reportsare designed primarily for hard copy printing, but the embodiment is notso limited. The informational reports list available information, suchas Contact Lists, Deal Lists and To-Do items. The analytical reports aredesigned to answer pertinent questions, such as “How effective are ourmarketing programs?” and “How well did leads move through the pipeline?”

The analytical reports are designed for on-screen use. Analyticalreports observe trends and pinpoint potential problems and improve areasin a sales process, but the embodiment is not so limited. Analyticalreports may be printed, but the embodiment is not so limited. Manyanalytical reports present summary information. For example, a user maywant to know how many deals were generated by a certain trade show. Onthe analytical report the user might see an underlined number “27”. Thiswould indicate that 27 deals where generated by that trade show. Insteadof listing every deal, the user was presented with the summary levelinformation. If the user wishes to see more detailed information, thenthe user clicks on the underlined number “27”. The CIMS will then show alist of those 27 deals. More detailed information may be presented for aparticular deal by clicking on that deal in the list.

The CIMS provides a predefined set of the most useful analytical andinformational reports, but the embodiment is not so limited.Furthermore, the CIMS provides the option to configure each reportbefore it is run. For example a user may request to see only contacts inMinnesota that only deal with a value of over $500,000.00. Reportconfigurations may be saved for reuse, but the embodiment is not solimited.

The analytical reports that follow are available in the CIMS, but theembodiment is not so limited:

-   -   Marketing effectiveness: how effective are our marketing        programs?    -   Average days: how long did it take for closed deals to move        through the seller pipeline?    -   Deal stages: what stages are deals in?    -   Closing probabilities: what is the probability of deals closing?    -   Historical snapshot: how many deals were in the seller pipeline?    -   Deal fallout: how many deals fell out at each stage?    -   Stage-to-stage analysis: within a period of time how long did it        take for deals to move from one stage to another?

The informative reports that follow are provided by the CIMS, but theembodiment is not so limited:

-   -   To-do: to-do list.    -   Calendar: day view, week view, and month view.    -   Accounts: accounts list, account detail.    -   Contacts: contact list, contact detail.    -   Deals: pipeline summary, pipeline detail.

The CIMS To-Do List provides an overview of tasks that have beenassigned by the user to the user or have been assigned by co-worker to auser. The CIMS provides for tracking and updating of the status of theto-do item and the display of detailed information about the to-do item.The to-do items may be sorted by due date, type, priority level, andother fields. The to-do items are managed through the To-Do List, whichenables a user to view, create, edit, and assign to-do items. To-doitems may be marked as completed. When to-do items are created by a userfor co-workers, those items will automatically be updated in the CIMSdatabase for the co-workers to-do on their To-Do Lists. The recipient ofa to-do may also receive notification in the New Information screen, butthe embodiment is not so limited. The progress of to-do items that havebeen assigned to others through a users own to-do list may be tracked,but the embodiment is not so limited. FIG. 41 shows the components of aTo-Do List screen of an embodiment of the present invention.

A New To-Do screen of the CIMS provides for the creation of a new itemfor a to-do list. The to-do items may be created for a user or may beassigned to other users. The New To-Do screen is displayed uponselection of the View button. When creating a to-do item, it isimportant to associate it with an account, deal, and contact if theto-do item is to be displayed on the detailed view of Accounts,Contacts, or Deals. FIG. 42 shows the components of a New To-Do screenof an embodiment of the present invention. To-Do List items may beedited or deleted, but the embodiment is not so limited.

A New Information screen provides a quick overview of new and updatedinformation available in the CIMS system, such a change to an account ornotification of a meeting, but the embodiment is not so limited. The NewInformation screen also provides for the monitoring of Web pages and thenotification of any changes to those Web pages. The selection of the NewInformation screen for display instantly provides a summary of importantnew or changed information that is pertinent to the user. In oneembodiment, items on the New Information screen are linked so that auser can navigate quickly to a specific piece of information. When auser is logged-in to the CIMS environment, a New Information icon willflash if someone adds or changes information that is of importance tothe user. Clicking the New Information icon allows the user to see, oraccess, the new or changed information.

New Information items that have not yet been read are listed in boldtype, and items that have been read are listed in regular type, but theembodiment is not so limited. New Information items may be selected forreading by either clicking on the hyperlink associated with the item orclicking the New Information item twist-downs. Items on the NewInformation screen are divided into three main categories, but theembodiment is not so limited: new; changed; and overdue. Within thesecategories, items are broken down by type: contacts; deals; accounts;to-dos; appointments; web pages; and events. Sections will be collapsedor expanded by using the New Information item twist-downs, but theembodiment is not so limited. FIG. 43 shows the components of a NewInformation screen of an embodiment of the present invention.

The New Information Web Monitoring Preferences screen provides for thespecification of Web pages to be monitored. When a change occurs on amonitored Web page, a user is notified on the New Information screen.FIG. 44 shows the components of a New Information Web MonitoringPreferences screen of an embodiment of the present invention.

The New Information/New Web Page To Monitor screen enables thespecification of a page to monitor. The New Information/New Web Page ToMonitor screen is accessed from the Web Page Monitoring Preferencesscreen. FIG. 45 shows the components of a New Information/New Web PageTo Monitor screen of an embodiment of the present invention. It shouldbe noted that a change is considered to be any text change on thespecific web page being monitored, but the embodiment is not so limited.A user will not be notified of changes to pages linked to the monitoredpage. When entering the URL, or Web address, of the page to be monitoredfor changes, the monitored page may be a specific page when itaccompanies a home page. For example, a user might not want to monitorwww.widget.com (the home page), but the user may want to monitorwww.widget.com/pressrelease.html (the page with new press releases).Furthermore, if a URL is edited and the URL is associated with anaccount, the URL in the associated account record will be automaticallyupdated. Moreover, the reverse is true, wherein if a URL associated withan account is updated in an account record, the monitored URL will alsochange.

Thus, a method and apparatus for network-based sales force automationhave been provided. Although the present invention has been describedwith reference to specific exemplary embodiments, it will be evidentthat various modifications and changes may be made to these embodimentswithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention asset forth in the claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings areto be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.

1. A method comprising: providing, over a network, shared informationregarding a transaction, wherein the transaction comprises one or moredeals, one or more contacts, and one or more accounts, and the one ormore deals are associated with the one or more contacts and the one ormore accounts; importing the shared information regarding thetransaction from an external source, wherein the shared information isimported into shared information tables; and generating, from the sharedinformation tables, an event characteristics table, wherein the eventcharacteristics table comprises one or more data items generated fromthe shared information contained in the shared information tables, eachof the one or more data items is associated with one or more of thedeals, the one or more data items are used to generate one or moredisplay objects for a graphical display, each of the one or more displayobjects represents a deal of the one or more deals, and displaycharacteristics of each display object graphically indicatecharacteristics of the deal.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein theimporting comprises gathering the shared information from the externalsource, and writing the shared information to the shared informationtables according to an import template, wherein the import templateindicates import parameters that are used to translate the sharedinformation into records of the shared information tables.
 3. The methodof claim 2, wherein the import template indicates that fields of theexternal source are mapped to corresponding fields in the sharedinformation tables.
 4. The method of claim 2, wherein the writing theshared information implements a processing script that validates,filters, and formats the shared information for importing.
 5. The methodof claim 2, further comprising: defining additional import parameters,wherein the defining is performed by a user, and the import parametersspecify at least one of whether duplicate records are written to theshared information tables, whether default values are added to one ormore fields of the shared information tables, whether imported recordstrigger a notification, and whether a territory is assigned to animported record when the imported record does not explicitly specify aterritory.
 6. The method of claim 1 further comprising: performing saidimporting automatically on a periodic basis.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the shared information regarding the transaction comprisesinformation regarding a contact of the one or more contacts, adescription, a projected closing date, a stage, a rating, a probabilityof closing, a territory, a source, and an estimated revenue.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the shared information regarding thetransaction comprises information regarding a deal of the one or moredeals that comprises summary deal information, detailed dealinformation, a complete history of events associated with the deal, andaccess to a network web site of at least one customer associated withthe deal.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared informationregarding the transaction comprises information regarding an account ofthe one or more accounts that comprises summary account information,detailed account information, a complete history of events associatedwith the account, and access to a network web site of a customerassociated with the account.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein theshared information regarding the transaction comprises informationregarding a deal of the one or more deals that comprises a history ofeach contact, appointment, and event associated with the deal, whereincommunication with a representative of the deal is automaticallyestablished using the information regarding the deal.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the shared information regarding the transactioncomprises information regarding a contact of the one or more contactsthat comprises a history of activities associated with the contact,wherein communication with a representative of the contact isautomatically established using the information regarding the contact.12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transaction further comprises atleast one lead, wherein the at least one lead is an emerging businessopportunity.
 13. The method of claim 1, wherein the external sourcecomprises at least one of an application, a spreadsheet, a web site, adatabase, and a contact manager.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein saidimporting comprises at least one of importing the shared informationinteractively through an end-user import system, and importing theshared information as a batch operation.
 15. The method of claim 1,wherein the external source comprises one or more fields, data of theexternal source is simultaneously mapped and imported into a file, andthe file comprises information regarding the one or more transactions.16. The method of claim 1, wherein said importing comprises at least oneof importing the shared information interactively through an end-userimport system, and importing the shared information as a batchoperation.
 17. The method of claim 1, wherein the shared information isshared according to a hierarchy and predefined territories.
 18. A systemcomprising: a display device; a processor, coupled to a network and thedisplay device, and configured to provide shared information regarding atransaction, wherein the transaction comprises one or more deals, one ormore contacts, and one or more accounts, and the one or more deals areassociated with the one or more contacts and the one or more accounts,import the shared information regarding the transaction from an externalsource, wherein the shared information is imported into sharedinformation tables, generate, from the shared information tables, anevent characteristics table, wherein the event characteristics tablecomprises one or more data items generated from the shared informationcontained in the shared information tables, each of the one or more dataitems is associated with one or more of the deals, the one or more dataitems are used to generate one or more display objects for a graphicaldisplay on the display device, each of the one or more display objectsrepresents a deal of the one or more deals, and display characteristicsof each display object graphically indicate characteristics of the deal.19. The system of claim 18, wherein the processor is further configuredto gather the shared information from the external source, and write theshared information to the shared information tables, according to animport template, wherein the import template indicates import parametersthat are used to translate the shared information into records of theshared information tables.
 20. A system comprising: shared informationregarding a transaction, wherein the shared information regarding thetransaction comprises information regarding one or more deals, one ormore contacts, and one or more accounts, the one or more deals areassociated with the one or more contacts and the one or more accounts,the shared information is imported from an external source, and theshared information is imported into shared information tables; an eventcharacteristics table, wherein the event characteristics table isgenerated from the shared information tables, the event characteristicstable comprises one or more data items generated from the sharedinformation contained in the shared information tables, each of the oneor more data items is associated with one or more of the deals, the oneor more data items are used to generate one or more display objects fora graphical display, each of the one or more display objects representsa deal of the one or more deals, and display characteristics of eachdisplay object graphically indicate characteristics of the deal; and anetwork coupled to the system, wherein the shared information istransmitted over the network.
 21. A non-transitory computer readablemedium comprising: a first set of instructions, executable in aprocessing system, configured to provide, over a network, sharedinformation regarding a transaction, wherein the shared informationregarding the transaction comprises information regarding one or moredeals, one or more contacts, and one or more accounts, and the one ormore deals are associated with the one or more contacts and the one ormore accounts; a second set of instructions, executable in theprocessing system, configured to automatically import on a periodicbasis the shared information regarding the transaction from an externalsource, wherein the shared information is imported into sharedinformation tables a third set of instructions, executable in theprocessing system, configured to generate, from the imported sharedinformation tables, an event characteristics table, wherein the eventcharacteristics table comprises one or more data items generated fromthe shared information contained in the shared information tables, eachof the one or more data items is associated with one or more of thedeals, the one or more data items are used to generate one or moredisplay objects for a graphical display, each of the one or more displayobjects represents a deal of the one or more deals, and displaycharacteristics of each display object graphically indicatecharacteristics of the deal.
 22. The non-transitory computer readablemedium of claim 21, wherein the second set of instructions furthercomprises: a fourth set of instructions, executable in the processingsystem, configured to import the shared information interactivelythrough an end-user import system; a fifth set of instructions,executable in the processing system, configured to import the sharedinformation as a batch operation; and a sixth set of instructions,executable in the processing system, configured to gather the sharedinformation from the external source, and write the shared informationto the shared information tables according to an import template,wherein the import template indicates import parameters that are used totranslate the shared information into records of the shared informationtables.